Staying Strong
by Darkmoonphase
Summary: Things are going well for the teens in Akatsuki...until Kurenai shows up. Things get hectic as Deidara makes a dangerous choice, Sasori suddenly disappears, and new people are coming into the picture. The Akatsuki's running out of options again... AU
1. 1: Deidara

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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**Staying Strong**

_Summary:_ _Sequel to 'Rendered Weak' (No cheating; if you haven't read that one, go read it before reading this one!). It's been a year and life's good for Deidara and Sasori. But something's nagging at them and their friends – someone's about to betray them all. No one knows that it's going to save their lives though. SasoXDei; TobiXZetsu _

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_**A/N: I am a fast little bitch, aren't I? Mwahaha...**_

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**1: Deidara**

I sighed and put my head on my desk. It's been a year and four months since Sasori and I officially started dating – we had decided not to count the time before our break-up, so technically, we've been together for a year and two months. We're all in our last year of high school (except Pein and Konan who graduated last year) and it's going to be over in a matter of weeks. My life has been pretty hectic – our gang has been in a few more gang wars; Sasori and I have been balancing each other, our best friends – Zetsu and Tobi (who are also dating each other); school; our other friends; and our families. Though all of it may seem like a lot, with a little effort, I've made my life quite easy and I still have time to sit back and take a few minutes to relax.

The thing is, I'm really not taking my life for granted anymore. Last year, I almost died. Thanks to Sasori – who got me to the hospital – and my mom, I'm fine except for a few scars. Last year isn't a year I like to remember. While I admit there were more good times than bad, like when my sister Ino kissed her crush and then when Sasori and I got lost in a city when we were supposed to be fighting in a gang war, there were the bad times too; like the gang war for starters, and then when Ino experienced her first break-up (luckily, she and her boyfriend got past it and are still dating). This year has promised to be just as fun. So far, Tobi and Zetsu have almost broken-up; Sasori's been trying to teach me how to make puppets and I've been showing him how I make my clay creatures; Itachi and Kisame are in a post-break-up state; and everyone's worried about where we're going to go for college.

I lifted my head as the teacher wrapped up her lesson and seconds later, the bell rang. I gathered my stuff and hurried to my locker. I've only got about four weeks left of school and all the teachers have been trying to get as much as they can into their reviews for SAT testing in two weeks. I've been slowly cleaning out my locker so I won't have to worry about it on the last day of school, but every time I take something out, I always put something back in – like now, as I shoved books into my locker, I pulled out a few notes, shoved them into my backpack and replaced them with six new notes. I wasn't looking forward to the last two weeks of school where everyone would be testing and cleaning classrooms and lockers and getting ready to close the school down for the summer. What I was looking forward to was summer itself. Sasori and I were going to be spending more time with each other and that was the best thing summer could offer.

"Are you almost ready to go?" Sasori asked, appearing by my locker suddenly. He grinned when I leaned around the door to see him. I smiled at him and then went back to replacing books in my locker and backpack.

"Almost but not quite ready, yeah," I answered, glancing at the back of my locker. I was still sad about the empty space in the back. The hook on the back was where I had originally put a puppet that Sasori had made that I'd stolen from him. But I'd lost the puppet when I broke up with Sasori. I'd gone back weeks after we'd gotten back together to find it, but was disappointed when I couldn't locate it. I'd searched all over the area, hoping that maybe someone had just kicked it or something. I still haven't found it – even though I go back frequently to look for it. I didn't want to ask for a new puppet because it wouldn't hold the same value. Besides, what was the point of hanging a puppet on the back of my locker for four weeks anyway?

I closed my locker door and Sasori and I left the building. Zetsu and Tobi were waiting by the curb in Zetsu's car. Zetsu and Sasori had passed their driving tests last year and had gotten their licenses, but Tobi and I kept botching ours and couldn't pass. Sasori and I climbed into the car, buckled up (like good little seventeen year olds) and Zetsu headed out of the parking lot.

"So are you doing anything interesting tonight?" Zetsu asked in his best casual tone – which meant that he had something exciting to say.

"All I have to do is homework, yeah. Oh! But I do have to go get something for Ino because her birthday's on Wednesday," I told him, reminding myself of the birthday at the same time.

"I have a little homework, but other than that, nothing really. And Deidara? Guess what? I remembered your little sister's birthday and I've already gotten her something. Don't get her a journal because that's what I got her…" Sasori muttered, sounding upset that he couldn't think of anything better.

"Don't worry. I've already got an idea of what to get her, yeah," I assured him mockingly.

"Well since you're not busy…" Zetsu interrupted and Tobi giggled. "Do you guys want to go to the movies with us tonight? We're going to go see the one that came out yesterday."

"The horror?" Deidara asked, sounding uncertain.

"That's the one. We decided that we need a good scare," Zetsu said, smiling wickedly.

"Didn't get enough on Halloween?" Sasori asked him, grinning at him when he scowled. "I thought I did a pretty good job at scaring you."

"It didn't scare me, it startled me," Zetsu told him matter-of-factly.

"And that's why you had nightmares for a month," Sasori concluded, looking down at his hands distractedly with a smirk on his face. "As for the movie, I'm all for it."

Tobi turned around in his seat to look at me. "Do you think you could make some time for your bestest friend?" he asked teasingly.

"Sure…I mean, Ino's present is easy to get to and the store's not very far from my house, yeah. And as for homework? I only have a small assignment, yeah. Besides, I need a few nightmares to liven my sleep!" I grinned as I said that. I'd been oversleeping for the past week and I thought that taking a few hours away from my sleep time would be a good idea.

"Okay…You're weird, Deidara-senpai…" Tobi told me as he turned back around in his seat.

"I know," I replied simply and looked out the window. Last week, you'd never believe it, Tobi and Zetsu had almost broken up. It was over a simple book, but it had been Zetsu's favorite that he'd lent to Tobi and my scatter-brained friend lost it. Of course, he'd found it – just in time to save their relationship – but it kept nagging at me. If something that simple could drive them that far apart, what would happen when they were faced with worse circumstances? I knew that it wasn't really my place to worry for them, but they didn't seem to think of this and that made me worry more.

Zetsu stopped at my house, handing me a ticket for the movie, and I went up to my house. It wasn't unusual for my house to be empty when I got home. Ino was still at school, my mom was either at work or grocery shopping and my dad was currently on a business trip. I'd gotten used to him being away for weeks – sometimes even months – at a time; though when he was home, I'd always spend as much time with him as I could. He'd left last week so I knew he'd be home next week. I opened my door and went upstairs to my room. In five minutes, I was out of my school uniform, in a more comfortable outfit and sitting at my desk doing homework. I glanced at the ticket to check how much time I had then started.

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Zetsu didn't waste any time getting to my house at five. And Tobi didn't waste any time talking about what we were going to do when the movie ended. My mom was used to me staying out late now that Zetsu and Sasori both had their licenses (of course, I have my limits – 10:00 on school nights and whenever on weekends). Tonight wasn't a weekend though, so I only had so much time to get out and enjoy myself. But sometimes when I was with my friends, it felt like hours when it was only minutes, which was annoying at times.

"Hey, Deidara-senpai?" Tobi suddenly asked after he, Zetsu and Sasori finished an animated conversation about some couple in school that seemed to be the hot spot in the gossip world. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"I'm stuck hosting Ino's birthday party, yeah. I can't believe she's turning fourteen," I told him. Every time I remembered her birthday, I felt like I'd forgotten a few years. Back before I'd met Sasori and all of his friends/gang members, I'd only known Tobi, Kakashi and my gang. Tobi had been so important for a few years and then I'd met Kakashi who turned everything I'd thought was love into an obsession. I'd been addicted to him, I swear. I couldn't remember once while I was with him where I thought about my family for a second. The only time I came remotely close was when I had to go to the hospital and my mom had been my doctor. I hadn't thought about Ino and it made me wonder how many birthdays I'd forgotten (at most, probably two, but it feels like more). So suddenly she's fourteen and I feel like I've missed two or three years of my life.

"What's the theme?" Sasori asked, snapping me back into reality.

"No idea yet. As long as she's not going to make me dress up as a clown or a princess, I'm good, yeah," I told him with a scowl as he started teasing me about being a princess. It was taking some getting used to still – Sasori, I mean. Tobi and I had always joked around and stuff, but Sasori and his friends took joking to a higher level; they didn't just joke, they basically teasingly put you down. It was a change that I was still getting used to, although, I could be pretty cruel with my teasing as well.

"Hey, dumb-asses. We're here," Zetsu snapped with an annoyed smile. He was probably on the verge of shifting. See, Zetsu had two sides to him – literally. He had his black side and his white side and they mirrored the emotions he usually had when he shifted. I wasn't really fond of his black side, which could be very vicious and violent, so I slipped out of my seat and trotted after him and Tobi, Sasori trailing after me, smiling mockingly.

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The next day was dark and gloomy. The sky was blanketed with bruise looking clouds; the cotton covered sky looked heavy with rain. When I got up and saw the threatening storm, I beamed. Dark days like this were my favorite kind of days. When I got to school, I managed to keep my optimism all day. By lunch, my friends looked really worried, except Tobi who was also very happy. Zetsu, Sasori, Tobi and I had reserved the only other empty table behind the rest of our gang. Hidan and Kakuzu joined us often – today being one of the days that they decided that they wanted our company.

"Why are you two so happy today?" Hidan snapped irritably. "It's not like it's any special day or anything."

"I know. Stormy days just make me happier than sunny days, yeah," I explained, grinning. Tobi nodded in agreement. "It's something we picked up after our first gang war."

"They went in at night, but the next day – a sunny day – scared them really bad because police were looking for them. So Deidara and Tobi don't really like sunny days anymore. Besides, stormy days are more fun!" Tobi declared cheerfully, earning a groan from Kakuzu.

Sasori shook his head in amazement. "You two are so weird."

"If you think that's weird, you should hear why I hate certain songs now, yeah," I told Sasori, grinning again.

"Pass," he muttered, staring at his food. "Anyway, Deidara, did you have nightmares all night long last night?"

"Hell no," I cried, frowning. "The movie sucked ass, yeah."

"So why were you screaming bloody murderer, Deidara-senpai?" Tobi asked teasingly, his head tilted to the side in that way that meant he was smiling.

"What I'd do to have heard that," Hidan muttered with a serene grin on his face.

"I didn't scream once, yeah! You must have been hearing yourself," I told him defensively.

"I don't get it. You've been in more gang wars than the rest of us, and yet…you get freaked out by a horror movie?" Zetsu asked, looking mystified.

I glared at him. "Well…You guys just ruined my good day, yeah." I messed with my food a little, bored and a little down now. I perked up some, remembering something. "Hey, where are Itachi and Kisame?"

Everyone at my table looked at me for a minute and then at our old table. Sure enough, Itachi and Kisame were missing. "I don't know…" Sasori muttered, sounding a bit worried.

"Itachi said he was going to go to the library during lunch, but I haven't heard anything from Kisame in awhile. He's fighting with Itachi, not me. I don't know why he's ignoring me!" Zetsu said; his voice tight with anger.

"He just likes to get mad at everyone," Sasori told him calmly. "I think this will blow over in about another week."

"We've only got four before summer, yeah," I muttered, frustrated.

"What happened to all that optimism I saw earlier?" Sasori asked teasingly. I knew he was trying to brighten my mood, but it wasn't working very well.

"You burned it, yeah," I moaned but couldn't keep the smile off my lips. "Why do you guys like horror anyway? Don't you get enough of that everyday, yeah?"

"I guess, but I think it's more fun to watch Hollywood horrors. Compared to our lives, they're lives look so fake," Zetsu told me.

"That's because they _are _fake, Zetsu," Kakuzu said and Zetsu shrugged. At that moment, there was a loud eruption of cheering and everyone looked over at one of the sets of stairs. Kurinai stood there, motionless. "Looks like the almost defeat of Deidara got around the school," muttered Kakuzu.

"Fuck," I growled. The cafeteria quieted as Kurinai walked over to our table and stopped by me. "What?"

She pulled an envelope from her back pocket and extended it to me. "Here. I'm supposed to give it to you."

I took the envelope, examined it briefly and then looked back up at her. "Do you even go to school, yeah?"

"Not usually. Why do you even bother? Jesus, you've turned into a goody-goody. I suppose you've been getting straight A's too?" Kurinai mocked, her hands on her hips and her voice tight.

"Not really. But I highly doubt you want to hear about my grades, yeah. I bet you're more concerned with your new leader and all the members you're having to kill because people keep leaving, right?" I smiled up at her. She wasn't the same as the last time I'd seen her. Her eyes seemed darker and her voice wasn't as light. She looked really tired too. It wasn't an improvement either. She looked more vicious than before and I hadn't thought that possible.

Kurinai growled softly. "Like you have a clue, traitor." She turned on her heels and brusquely walked out of the cafeteria.

"Lovely, isn't she, yeah?" I asked lightly as I examined the envelope again. I didn't recognize the handwriting on the front at first but when I did, I wasn't surprised.

"What's with the letter?" Hidan asked, staring at the envelope in my hands.

I shrugged, shoving it into my backpack. "Probably something I don't care about, yeah," I told them. But I was a little worried. Why would they go through all the trouble of getting a stupid letter to me?

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When I got home that afternoon, I went up to my room, closed and locked my door, and sat on my bed with my backpack. I fished around in it until I found the envelope. I sat there for a few minutes, just staring at the white envelope. I didn't want to open it but I knew I had to. I took a few deep breaths and carefully opened the envelope. Inside was a piece of paper that was folded carefully into thirds. I pulled it out and unfolded it, setting the envelope aside. At first, I just stared at it; I didn't read it, just stared at the handwriting. When I finally read it, I felt my heart sink. I read through the letter two more times and then set it aside. I leaned back onto my hands and stared at my ceiling.

The last circle had broken, I knew it had because I'd never been so happy for so long. But something else was starting off of the last circle and it was turning into something that would keep going unless I found a way to stop it. The minutes dragged by and Ino came home. I heard her and her boyfriend, Shikamaru, making something to eat downstairs. I found my MP3, put my headphones on and listened to some music while I thought. An hour passed and Shikamaru left. Ino called up to me to ask if I was okay. I told her I was even if I didn't feel like it. After another hour, my mom was home and I had finally found an answer.

I just didn't like it.

_Why do I get stuck with so little options?_

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_**A/N: I dunno about you, but I could sit there for two and a half hours. Of course, I'd need music or something, but I could do it. So yeah, it is humanly possible to sit there for two and a half hours.**_

_**Fast paced, ne?**_

_**Please review.**_


	2. 2: Sasori

**Disclaimer: I really and truly don't own Naruto. Though, if I did, it would be Akatsuki based...**

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**2: Sasori**

**Warning: This made me depressed when I wrote it, fyi. I really pity Sasori.**

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It wasn't often that I worried about Deidara. He could usually take care of himself. There _were _occasions where he had issues with school or in gang wars, and I could help him. But there were also rare moments where Deidara kept secrets that I couldn't help him with. These moments were the ones that I hated the most. I wanted to know what he was thinking, why he did certain things and I hated it when he kept secrets from me.

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For two days after Deidara got that envelope from Kurinai, he was absent. I couldn't get a hold of him; his phone was turned off, his mom told me he was out when I called his home phone and when I showed up at his house he was never home. It really ticked me off. I had no idea what he was doing now. When he came back to school, he wouldn't tell me what he'd been doing. He did apologize for having his phone off – even if he had come up with the lame "my phone was dead" excuse. I gave up though. I'd figure out what he was up to, just not right away, apparently.

On Friday, Deidara, Zetsu, Tobi, and I ditched school and went to the park. It was funny; over by the parking lot was where we'd had our big, bloody gang war with The Guardian last year; the police had shut down the whole park for investigation. For awhile, the mayor had debated whether or not to get rid of the park because parents were saying it wasn't safe for their children. In the end, he decided not to demolish it because it would have been a waste of money (surprisingly, they'd spent a lot of money building this park). There were just never any children here. We usually used it when we needed a place to hang out when we didn't want to go to our houses or when we wanted to ditch school.

"Didn't want to get dressed today, Deidara?" I asked my boyfriend from on top of the monkey bars.

Deidara looked over at me from on top of the slide and said, "Kind of. It seemed like too much of a hassle since we were just going to ditch school anyway, yeah."

Zetsu and Tobi were swaying on the swings a little farther from us. "Yeah, why get school clothes dirty when you can just wear your pajamas?" Tobi called. I knew he was being sarcastic because we had to wear school uniforms. Deidara wasn't a big fan of them; he didn't seem to like getting dressed in everyday clothes either though.

"That's my logic, yeah. I hate getting dressed," Deidara replied, grinning widely.

"Your logic is always messed up, man," Zetsu told him with a teasing smile.

I started swinging my legs back and forth. "You really think that The Guardian's given up, Deidara?" I finally asked. I had been wondering about it since the gang war with them and even more after Kurinai had showed up a few days ago.

It was quiet for a few moments, save for the creaking from the swings. "No," Deidara answered calmly. "They'll probably pick a new leader and start wreaking havoc again, yeah. They don't stay down for very long. Did you know that Kakashi wasn't actually the person who created the gang, yeah? It was actually a guy named Orochimaru and he was all set on keeping his neighborhood safe – that's why they were The Defenders first. I don't know the whole story, but after Orochimaru left, Kakashi took his place and went…well, kind of crazy, yeah. He thought that they could wipe out all the other gangs and make the surrounding area safe – city after city. I'm pretty sure Orochimaru's has a new gang now, yeah."

"How'd you find that out, Deidara-senpai?" Tobi asked, sounding intrigued.

"I looked it up, yeah," Deidara told him with a grin. "It wasn't that hard, actually. I found someone from the gang who'd been there since Orochimaru created the gang and asked him about it, yeah. He didn't know the whole story either, though. I thought I could look it up, but no one knew the names of the people in the gang unless they were arrested, yeah. It was almost disappointing, but I found out that Orochimaru has a small gang right outside of this city!"

"Really?" I looked at Deidara questioningly. "Is that what you were doing those two days?"

"That was part of it, yeah," Deidara confirmed. "I wanted to get a hold of Orochimaru but couldn't get any more info on him. It doesn't matter anyway, yeah."

"It does if you're that curious about him and his gang," Zetsu countered. "You're always doing stuff when you think it'll be useful. So why is getting in contact with Orochimaru so important?"

"It's just a thought, yeah," Deidara reminded us sternly. "But the guy I talked to said that Orochimaru was really set on keeping the places around him safe and if he felt threatened, he'd call an all-out gang war – to the death. I'm wondering what would happen if he found out that The Guardian's been so close to him, yeah."

"He'd probably have heard it on the news, Dei. And if he had, he's obviously not the same paranoid guy that created the gang in the first place," I told him. I was pretty skeptical on the whole idea. If the guy was still so paranoid, he would have come after us a long time ago. I pointed this out to Deidara who nodded reluctantly.

"I didn't think about that, yeah. I guess I had my hopes up…" Deidara sighed looked down at the gravel below. "It's still interesting, yeah. I never thought that someone else had created The Guardian. Kakashi was so powerful and everyone listened to him, it seemed natural that he'd have gotten the gang together, yeah. But now to find out that this Orochimaru had actually been the creator of that gang…"

"It is interesting," Tobi agreed. "Kakashi had everyone wrapped around his finger. Tobi didn't even think that Kakashi could have taken the gang."

"Taken?" Zetsu asked, sounding stunned and confused. "Deidara said that Orochimaru left!"

Tobi looked at him, his head tilted to one side slightly. "Tobi knows that's what he said, but he also knows that it means something different. When you say that the leader of a gang 'left his gang', it means the gang was taken from him. Usually another member of the gang takes it by either earning the respect of others and overthrowing the original leader or killing him. It's easy to do either if you're the runner up leader – also known as, second in command."

Deidara nodded. "Kakashi must have been second in command then, yeah. That or he was a rebellious member and he scared several of his comrades into helping him overthrow the leader."

"It's like the ancient Chinese emperors that I learned about in my sophomore year," I commented, trying to think back to the lesson. "A lot of rulers were killed or overthrown – often both!"

"I never thought about it like that, but you're right, yeah. It is like that…" Deidara agreed, looking at me with a strange look.

"Wait. So now that Kakashi's dead, the second in command's taken his place, right?" Zetsu asked me, looking worried.

"Probably." Deidara stared into the sky. "What I want to know is who the new leader's second in command is now, yeah…"

Tobi shook his head and almost fell of the swing. "You're thinking too hard, Deidara-senpai."

Deidara looked at him and grinned. "That's a possibility, yeah."

I stared at him. He wouldn't have said all that if he wasn't trying to make a point. But I didn't get it. It was like a puzzle that was missing several pieces. I wanted to get the rest of the pieces but Deidara changed the subject before I could say anything.

--

When I got home later that afternoon, my mom and brother were home. My cousins, Kankuro and Temari, were there too. I briefly greeted them before I disappeared into my room. I didn't really want to face my mom yet. She'd probably have gotten a call from my school by now and she'd be dying to have a "talk" with me. I was pretty sure that it was my tenth time sluffing in the past two months. I tried to keep the days that I sluffed random so that it didn't look too bad. My permanent record was probably totally botched by now though.

I was starting to have my doubts about getting into college. It'd never been a _big _dream of mine, but I knew it'd been my mom's big dream for me since I first started school. I wished she'd put all this pressure on Gaara. We were actually pretty alike, even if I didn't like to admit it. If she wanted one of us to get into college, she should pressure Gaara because he was way smarter than me and he hadn't messed up his life yet.

I heard my mom shouting at me from downstairs. It looked like I'd run out of time before her talk. I slumped out of my room and downstairs where she led me to the family room. It also seemed that I'd get an audience. How wonderful, I thought sarcastically.

"I got a call from your school today," my mom started. It was how she started every "talk". It still didn't have any effect on me.

"So? I bet they had a lot to say about how wonderful I am," I told her sarcastically. I was tired of this. If she wanted to believe that I was just rebellious and that's why I kept sluffing, then I'd let her believe that. It was way better than the truth – and by better, I mean entertaining.

"No. They told me that you weren't in school today. Funny…I don't remember calling in and telling them that you'd be absent," she replied and Kankuro snickered. I didn't respond. "Do you know how many calls about this I've gotten this year, Sasori? I have enough to stress over and I don't need you to add to it. I've got work; taking care of both you and Gaara…You're seventeen. Next year you'll – hopefully – be in college and out on your own. Shouldn't you start acting like you're seventeen and not seven?"

"I have been. In fact, I've been doing everything you tell me to – minus getting a perfect attendance. It doesn't really matter though," I informed her angrily. I'd heard this too many times and I was really tired of it. "You've got so many expectations of me; don't you think that I might not want to live up to them? Don't you think that I might want my _own_ life?!"

It was quiet for a minute. Finally my mom said, "That doesn't have anything to do with you missing all these days of school, Sasori."

"Of course not," I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest. "It never does."

"You're such a good student, but you keep missing all these days and it's going to affect everything you've worked so hard on," my mom told me compassionately.

I lost it. "I told you that it doesn't matter! I'm not going to college! I never planned on it! I don't care about school and everything that I've 'worked so hard on'! It doesn't matter to me! It only matters to you! You worry so much about me and you care about how my life is going and Gaara sits through it getting shafted. Have you even noticed that you have another son?! You never care about his grades – do you even know if he's sluffing?! I do. I've had to congratulate him for every A he's gotten and tell him how awesome it is that he's got a perfect attendance. I'm not you! I can't do it like you! I'm not the only thing in your life!!" I spun and stormed out the front door, breathing heavily. I walked slowly off my porch and to the sidewalk. I went down the street toward the small park down there. I didn't trust myself enough right then to drive anywhere. I went to a grassy part of the park – checking for dog crap – and then lay down. I stared up at the blue sky, watching the wispy clouds float through it.

By sunset, I decided to go home. When I walked in, no one said anything or looked up. Grateful, I went up to my room and got ready for bed. I'd have to go make something to eat because I hadn't eaten since lunch, but it seemed so tense down there that I didn't want to risk it yet. Instead, I fished around in my backpack until I found my MP3. I lay down on my bed listening to my music until I fell asleep.

--

The next day was Saturday – the dreaded day. When I wandered downstairs to get something to eat, I saw Temari and Kankuro still sleeping in the family room. I quietly fixed myself something to eat and cleaned up my mess when I was done (hey, a little can get you a long way). I quickly went upstairs and got dressed, then bounced downstairs. When I got downstairs, my mom was making herself some coffee. I wanted to slip out, go to Deidara's or something, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. My mom didn't know what my life was actually like – she wasn't like Deidara's mom, a doctor; she wasn't like Kakuzu's mom, who didn't care about anything he did; she wasn't like Hidan's mom, who agreed with Hidan when he said that someone deserved to die; she didn't even like gangs or killing. Every time I snapped like I had last night, I'd feel guilty because my mom had no idea what I was really up to. I didn't want to tell her either.

"Mom?" I called, walking into the kitchen. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were all playing a video game that they paused when I walked in. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

She turned around, coffee cup in hand, and smiled brightly at me. If only she knew. "Of course, honey. What's up?"

I still didn't get how she could do that – pretend that everything was okay when we both knew it wasn't. "I'm sorry I yelled at you last night. School's been stressful; you've been putting stress on me. I've been trying to keep calm, but it's kind of hard. Haven't you ever felt like that?"

"I feel like that all the time. I try to vent in other ways, rather than yelling at you and Gaara though," she told me softly as she stared at me. I felt like she was trying to see inside my head. "What else is going on?"

"I'm going to some clubs after school and stuff because I always have so much time to kill," I told her quickly and coolly. "Maybe I should quit a few and calm down."

My mom nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe you should…Hey, are you doing anything today?"

"I wasn't really planning on anything unless Deidara calls later. But I doubt he will – he's hosting his little sister's party today. He might ask me to come help him though," I informed her, not really wondering what she was getting at.

"That's right…Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were invited to that," my mom said. Her voice sounded so far away and I started wondering if she was back on drugs. I suddenly felt guiltier than before. If she had overdosed again, it would have been my fault for stressing her out so much last night. "So will you take them? The invite's on the fridge so you know what time it's at. I have to get ready for work." She walked out of the kitchen and upstairs.

I sat down on one of the bar stools. For one of the first times in a long time, I wished that my dad were still alive. He would have calmed her down last night – no, my mom and I wouldn't have even fought if he were still around. I put my head on the counter and moaned. I was wrong to think like that; he'd never cared. One of the main reasons I'd never told my mom that I was in a gang was because my dad had been in one and he'd died fighting in a gang war. I'd never stopped to think about it because I knew that if I did, I'd chicken out and quit the gang. And I didn't want to do that. Besides, I wasn't anything like my dad. He'd been careless and he hadn't cared about his family at all. I called his death karma.

"Sasori, when's Ino's birthday party?" Gaara suddenly asked. I sat up again and looked over at him. He seemed worried.

I stood up and went to the fridge. I found the invite and glanced at the time. "In about two hours," I told my little brother. "So if you're not ready, get ready." Gaara, Temari and Kankuro all scrambled as I looked for something to eat. I still hadn't decided on anything when the phone rang. I walked over to it and answered, "Hello?"

_"Hey, 'Sori! What cha up to, yeah?" _Deidara asked brightly. I didn't know how he did it, but he always seemed to call at the right time.

"I was looking for something to eat and trying to calm myself down," I told him, glancing into the living room to make sure that none of the kids were around to hear me. "My mom and I fought last night and I think she overdosed again this morning."

_"Again? If she keeps this up, she's gunna kill herself, yeah," _Deidara replied, sounding worried. _"What's she taking and how much?"_

I searched the medicine cabinet but couldn't find any missing drugs. Instead, I found pot. I practically dropped the phone and passed out. I'd always thought that my mom had been overdosing on a prescription drug, not an illegal drug. No wonder she always sounded stoned, not high. "Deidara…She's not overdosing on anything. She's smoking pot…"

There was a pause and then Deidara said, _"Where the hell did she get that, yeah?!"_

"Why? You want some? 'Cause there's plenty," I told him sourly.

_"No. That's not it, yeah." _Another pause. _"I wanted to know because I was talking to Kisame last night and he was telling me that there are a few gangs around here that sell that shit. It's not cheap either, yeah. You have to _know_ people from the gangs in order to get a discount. Like, prostitute know, yeah. And you said your mom wasn't associating with gangs anymore."_

"She's not," I said firmly, but I was shaking. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be. I thought my mom had given up dating guys from gangs. She knew better! _I _knew better! But I also believed Deidara and that was because I'd looked it up briefly once when I thought it would be fun to smoke pot. "I can't believe this…"

_"Are you even sure it's pot, yeah?" _Deidara asked, obviously trying to make me feel better.

"Well it's not maple leaves," I told him bitterly. "I just don't get why it's in such an obvious place."

_"Maybe she was smoking it last night and was stoned enough to forget that she was supposed to hide it, yeah," _Deidara suggested, sounding more distracted now.

I glanced at the microwave clock. We'd been talking for less than fifteen minutes. "I don't care. It doesn't even matter, you know? If she decides to smoke it, and she dies, then Gaara and I'll be sent into foster care for a year. Then I'll go get a job and an apartment and Gaara and I can live on our own. It's not like I haven't already been caring for my little brother anyway. She's never helped me out. She'll leave twenty bucks for me to buy groceries or whatever. Do you know how much it is to pay for food for Gaara and me? For a week, it's more than twenty. I'm almost bankrupt – that's right, I'm seventeen and almost broke – because I've been taking money out of my account to pay for food." I started crying. I knew it technically wasn't abuse yet. It was just neglect and it barely passed as that because she remembered that we needed to eat and she remembered that I was in school.

_"Sasori, calm down, yeah. You're totally bumming me out. She's not going to die and you're not going to go bankrupt; I'll help out if you want, yeah. You can stay with my family for awhile too, if you want. You're seventeen, you've still got another year before you can start worrying about this shit, yeah," _Deidara told me soothingly. _"Show her how much she should care. Just stop worrying like you're twenty, yeah. You're still, technically, a kid."_

I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see me. I tried to calm down, stop the tears. It took a bit of an effort, but I managed. "You're right. I am still just a kid – until next year. I think I'll be fine, money wise. I just need to get a job or something…"

_"A job? Sasori, you've got a full time job as a gang member, yeah. I know it doesn't pay, but you won't have time for another job. You can't just drop what you're doing to go to a gang war if you're working – like you can now, yeah," _Deidara reminded me slowly, sounding uncertain.

"Then I'm screwed," I said bluntly. "That's basically what you're saying. This isn't fair! I didn't have to worry about this before!"

_"Don't worry about it now, yeah. We'll help you rob a bank or something," _Deidara told me playfully, trying to cheer me up. _"You want to bring your brother and cousins over early, yeah? Shikamaru's already here. They can find something to do for an hour while we set up and talk, yeah."_

"Sure, my hand's cramping anyway," I agreed. I wanted to talk to him in person anyway. "Thanks, Dei. You're way too nice to me."

_"You don't deserve all the shit you're getting, yeah," _Deidara said firmly. _"You're such a nice guy. You don't deserve any of this shit you've been through, yeah."_

"That's debatable," I muttered. "But thanks. I'll see you in awhile." We said bye to each other and hung up. "Guys?!" I called up the stairs. "We're going to Deidara's early!"

Kankuro cheered and a few minutes later, the three of them were downstairs, each holding a gift for Ino. I was pretty impressed. "Sasori…Were you crying?" Gaara's smile faded and he looked at me worriedly.

"Nah; I've been rubbing my eyes because I'm still not really awake," I told him reassuringly.

"Who were you talking to?" Gaara asked suspiciously.

"Deidara. He called to invite us to come over early and we got caught up talking about an upcoming gang war," I answered, getting impatient.

Gaara's eyes widened. "Another one already? Are you going?"

"It's not for another few weeks and of course I'm going. I'm not going to let my friends go in there alone," I snapped. I wasn't actually sure if my gang was planning on another gang war, but I had to have a convincing lie or else Gaara would see right through me. "Let's go." We went out to my car and less than five minutes later we were on our way to Deidara's. I noticed that my mom's car was still in the driveway and my heart sank.

_I hope I don't come home and find her dead…_

_--  
_

_**A/N: I'm sad. This was a really depressing chapter to write. I feel so bad for Sasori. His life is so hard. And I thought Deidara had been through shit. I guess I got lost in the character. I've never bothered to tell a lot about their lives, but now that I'm getting into that, it kind of makes more sense that they're in a gang, ne? I'll try not to focus too much on that because a) it's depressing and b) they're not all that important in this story – although some of the info about their lives will come in handy later, so bear with me. On the upside, this chapter is even longer than my longest Sasori chapter in the last story! Cheers to me!**_

_**Deidara's nice. Please review.**_


	3. 3: Tobi

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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**3: Tobi**

I kept trying to call Deidara, but his line was busy. It was really pissing me off. Leader had told me to call Deidara and Zetsu was supposed to call Sasori. When he called and said he couldn't get a hold of his friend, I guessed that something was up. I knew that Deidara had Ino's birthday party, but it wasn't for another hour. I was just starting to wonder what was up when Zetsu called again. "What's up?"

_"Sasori's not answering either of his phones," _he growled on the other end. It sounded like impatience had gotten the better of him. _"Have you managed to get a hold of Deidara yet?"_

I sighed loudly, already tired of this. "No. But Tobi hasn't tried his cell yet. Tobi'll try that next."

_"Alright…Hey, before I let you go…Do you know what Leader wants us all for?" _Zetsu asked, sounding more normal but also more hesitant. _"And why we have to go to his house? He never asks us to go there…"_

"Tobi has no idea, Zetsu-kun. But it must be really important," I told him, rolling my eyes at my obviousness. "Okay, Tobi's going to try Deidara's cell. Come by Tobi's house in five minutes and you and Tobi'll go see if they're home. If they are, they'll drag 'em out and take them to Leader's, 'kay?

_"Got it," _Zetsu said through gritted teeth. I could practically see him grinning. We hung up and I called Deidara.

On the third try, right before I left the house when Zetsu arrived, he answered. _"Wassup?"_

"Where have you been?! Tobi's been trying to get a hold of you for, like, thirty minutes!" I cried, a mix of anger and relief flooding over me.

_"Ack; sorry, I was talking to Sasori for awhile and I also had my cell off, yeah. The only reason I remembered to check my phone was because Sasori wanted to know why I didn't have it around," _Deidara paused, as if wanting to say more, but not sure if he should.

I left the house, locking the door behind me, and sprinted to Zetsu's car. "Are you okay?"

_"Fine,"_ Deidara assured me soothingly. He said it in the way that I knew he was lying.

"Whatever, Tobi'll let it drop this time. But, Deidara-senpai, Leader wants the whole gang at his house – _now_. He says it's really important. Zetsu and Tobi are on their way to your house. Is Sasori there too?" I asked, feeling guilty as I checked the time. It was only about twenty minutes until Ino's birthday party.

There was a pause and then Deidara's strained voice said, _"Now? But all these kids are showing up for Ino's party and my mom's not home yet, yeah…What am I supposed to do?" _

I debated that for a minute while we sped down the street. "Tobi's not sure. Can't Ino hold her own until you get back?"

_"Yeah, but it's her _birthday,_ Tobi!" _Deidara sounded really perplexed. _"I don't want to leave her here. I told her I'd host her party, yeah…"_

We pulled up in front of Deidara's house and I snapped my cell shut. I slipped out of the car and to the front door. I knocked twice and rang the doorbell once. Sasori answered. And he looked confused. "What's up, Tobi?"

How many times have I heard that today? "You and Deidara need to bail – _now_. Leader wants the whole gang at his house."

Sasori looked stunned now. Then he looked behind him guiltily as Ino and Deidara trotted up. "But the party…"

"Tobi…" Deidara stared at me pleadingly.

"Don't, Deidara-senpai. You have to ditch it, even if it's just for awhile…" I told him, feeling horrible. Both Sasori and Deidara appeared indecisive as they looked at each other.

"What's going on, Deidara?" Ino asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Leader needs the whole gang to meet up, yeah," Deidara told her in frustration.

"Oh. Are you gunna be back?" Ino looked up at her brother. I couldn't see any anger on her face.

Deidara stared at me expectantly. I sighed, "Probably. It just depends on what's going on."

"Alright…" Ino assumed a mischievous expression on her face as she stared behind me at Zetsu's car. "Do you have an empty bottle?"

"You have a boyfriend," Deidara snapped, pulling his shoes on. "If you want to do something like that though, there's an almost empty root beer bottle by the kitchen sink you can use, yeah. But you can have fun being single after that." His little sister pouted as she spun around and skipped off to the living room; Shikamaru followed her, muttering about how it was too much trouble. I wondered if he was in on the scheme.

"Thanks," I murmured, ducking my head as we walked back to Zetsu's car.

"Leader's gunna hear about it, yeah," Deidara grumbled as he slid into the backseat next to Sasori.

"Save it," I snapped as we sped down the street. "It's got to be important if he called everyone on such short notice. Even Tobi knows that he hasn't been in this gang for very long." He was quiet after that, slowly making me feel guiltier. "Sorry, Deidara-senpai…Tobi's mom's dating again. It's so frustrating! And she makes it seem like it's no big deal. How many more nights will Tobi have to go sleepless because she refuses to be quiet? God…"

"Why's your mom dating again, yeah? Didn't she learn anything from her marriage with your dad? And besides, she has you, yeah," Deidara said slowly, as if he was still thinking about it as he said it. "I swear to god, she's such a whore."

"No kidding. You don't have to sleep in the same house as her," I agreed, shaking my head in anger. "My mom…if you ask Tobi, she never really cared about Dad. She doesn't want to stay with one guy for too long. Tobi only likes calling it dating to make him feel better about it."

"Damn," Deidara sighed. "On the bright side, you only have a few more weeks before summer, yeah. Just think, we'll be planning on where we want to go to get away from here in just a few weeks…"

"Tobi's going to get as far away from this town as he can," I declared firmly. "But he'd like it if you guys came with…" Deidara laughed. I knew Zetsu didn't know much about what we were talking about and Sasori had no idea, so I started to feel guilty that we weren't talking about something they could participate in. "So…where does everyone want to go?"

"I really want to go somewhere in the U.S," Sasori offered happily. "Like…I don't know…California is supposed to be fun."

"Why not stay in Asia? Let's go to China or something," Zetsu suggested, glancing at me briefly. "Wouldn't it be easier than having to learn English?"

"I guess…" Sasori muttered and I knew the conversation was over. No one wanted to fight and we still didn't know where we wanted to go. We didn't want to split up because we wouldn't have any fun, but we couldn't decide on a specific place without arguing.

We arrived at Leader's house; Hidan's car was already there along with Itachi's. Zetsu turned off the car and we all got out. I wasn't sure what was so important, and I was almost afraid to find out, but we were already at the door. _It's probably bad news_, I thought with a frown. Zetsu wrapped his hand around mine and I was fine. Besides, it's not like we were going into another gang war – I always freaked out when we were about to. Hidan opened the door and grinned at us. "It's gunna be fucking fun, I can tell," he announced as he let us in. We walked into the living room where everyone else was sitting around silently. Even Itachi and Kisame had seemed to be setting aside their petty fight to join. This really was big.

"Hey guys," Konan greeted and smiled softly. "Come on in and take a seat."

When we were sitting down, Leader smiled grimly and said, "Guess what? The Guardian has a new leader – fresh and insane."

"And how'd you figure this out, yeah?" Deidara asked pleasantly, smirking smugly.

Leader eyed him warily. "I caught someone sneaking around my house earlier this morning and I found out she was part of The Guardian. I wanted to know why she was sneaking around and managed to pry out the new leader's name. Guy."

Deidara and I exchanged alarmed expressions. "Duh! Of course Guy was second in command. How did you and Tobi not figure this out earlier?"

"I wasn't paying that much attention, yeah," Deidara replied, sounding upset. "But…this could be good…"

"It doesn't sound good," Zetsu growled and I leaned against him comfortingly. "If they've got another leader, then the guy's probably really pissed. There'll be another gang war…"

"It might not sound good to you, but I kind of know Guy, yeah," Deidara mused, looking like he was lost in his thoughts. "He was Kakashi's lover and a lot of the gang members hated him because he was even more like a…well, dictator describes him pretty well, then even Kakashi. He was also pretty mentally unstable – worse than his boyfriend, if you can imagine, yeah. So now think of this: I killed his lover and he's going to be pissed. If so many people hate him, a lot are going to try and leave, yeah. You remember their rule for members who try to leave?"

Everyone nodded. "They kill them," Kakuzu muttered, as if to emphasize what we already knew.

"Exactly. So they're killing a lot of members and that's going to cut down on their numbers, yeah. I'm not saying that we're going to have a major advantage, but we'll have an advantage all the same if – _when_ they decide to call a gang war on us again," Deidara continued. "So it's kind of a good thing that Guy's their new leader. Because now, there's a bigger chance for us to wipe them out, yeah. And who knows…maybe there are a few people who escaped death – barely, but it's possible. With that thought out there, we've got a chance to catch someone who's recently left, make them tell us what's going on inside the gang and plan from there, yeah."

"That's assuming we'll catch someone who's left and is still alive," Sasori reminded him dryly. "And you said yourself that that chance is slim."

Deidara was silent for a moment, his face twisted into a mask of deep thought. Finally he said, "So? The chance is still there, yeah."

"Any other ideas?" Leader asked wearily.

"What'd you do with the chicky that was sneaking around here earlier?" I inquired worriedly.

Leader grinned maliciously. "Closet," he whispered, pointing a thumb at the coat closet behind him. "I didn't want to kill her on the spot."

"Cool," Deidara and I said at the same time. Deidara grinned at me and we went to the closet. I opened the door and Deidara pulled her out. We stared at her for a minute and then, at the same time again, "Why haven't you left yet (yeah)?"

"Cut that out. It sounds like you rehearsed everything you were going to say to me," she snapped testily.

"Maybe we have (yeah)," we mocked and smiled at each other. "But that doesn't answer our question," Deidara reminded her sternly.

"I know," she told him with an annoyed look. "I haven't left because I decided that Guy might have a good chance at being a good leader – if he gets past all this 'kill Deidara' shit." She grinned at my blonde friend who frowned.

It was quiet for a minute and then Deidara muttered, "Anni, I swear to God, if you don't tell us everything you know about what's going on in that gang, I will break every bone in your body, yeah."

I stared at him, shocked and a little scared. Deidara wasn't usually all that violent, really only in circumstances that required that choice. "Deidara…" But the girl's eyes were wide and her grin was gone. "And Tobi'll help."

"I'll go to my grave with all the secrets of The Guardian," Anni vowed, firmly – even though she was pale and shaking.

I looked over at Deidara whose eye was wide with shock and fury. I glanced back at Anni and said, "You'd let Deidara and Tobi break all your bones just because you're loyal to Guy?"

"He's a better leader than Kakashi ever was," she stated arrogantly.

"Liar," Deidara whispered; his face now an eerie calm. "You're just afraid to get killed, yeah. That's all. And right now, you don't believe that we'd hurt you, yeah." He grabbed one of her arms with both hands, pulling it through the rope, and yanked his hands in different directions, dragging the bone with them. There was a loud snap and then her earsplitting scream. "I can kill you too."

"Okay, okay! He's crazy and all he wants is revenge. He's killing people inside the gang as well as people who try to leave – people he thinks are going to try and murder him when we're all too scared to go too close to him. Asuma and Kurinai are actually thinking about it but he trusts them too much. He's got spies all over out here and he's ignoring other threats. We're all scared and he's been killing people who don't listen to him too," Anni whimpered in a hurry, tears streaming down her face. "Everyone's saying that there's more to it, but that's all I know."

Deidara dropped her arm and she let it hang there limply. "He's killing everyone, yeah," he whispered, sounding amazed.

"Basically," Anni muttered, staring at her broken arm. "But it all comes back to finding the perfect way to set you up and destroy you." She looked up at him stubbornly and added, "I'm hoping he succeeds now."

"I'm happy for you, yeah," Deidara told her sarcastically before turning away from her and sitting down next to Sasori again.

"So they're just looking for you…" Sasori murmured, his voice distant and scared as he stared at his boyfriend.

"No. They're looking for a weak point and the perfect scenario to catch me off guard so they can kill me, yeah," Deidara clarified softly. He was staring at the ground in front of him with a faraway expression on his face.

I shoved the girl back into the closet and closed the door, ignoring her screams. "And what are you planning on doing?" I asked worriedly, hoping he wasn't going to try and go into hiding or something stupid like that.

Deidara was quiet for a minute and then he mumbled, "I'll leave this gang and lie low, yeah."

"You can't just walk away," Leader protested hurriedly.

"Have you come up with a punishment if I do, yeah?" Deidara countered determinedly.

Leader suddenly looked really vulnerable. "Well…not yet…"

"Then I'm _going_ to walk away, yeah," Deidara stated firmly and with a voice of finality.

Sasori looked at him desperately and said, "And me?"

Deidara stared back at him, pain dancing around his features. "Where are you getting that, yeah?"

"If you leave this gang, you're leaving me," Sasori declared strongly, his voice wavering a little.

I watched them for a minute and then I added, "And you might lose your friendship with Tobi…"

Deidara looked up at me. He bit his lower lip and then sighed. "I can't believe you guys, yeah."

"We need you," Konan reminded him softly, staring at her hands regretfully. "We need both you and Tobi. You're, like, our secret weapons or something similar to that…"

"I'm not that useful anymore, yeah," Deidara said flatly. "I don't have much of an idea of what their doing now. What use can I be if I have no idea what's going on now, yeah?"

"How about your fighting skills?" Hidan suggested, rolling his eyes. "If you ask me, you're being a fucking moron. What are you going to accomplish by leaving? Having nowhere to go when you're done hiding? What are you going to do when all of this is over?"

Deidara stood up, staring blankly at the ground. "I have no idea, yeah. But I've done stuff like this before, and I'll do it again – I'm not letting the people I care most about get hurt."

"If you leave, I won't let you come back," Leader told him firmly, finally coming up with a good sentence. Deidara nodded solemnly.

There was a momentary silence and then I asked, "Does that include your family?"

Deidara looked at me, fury playing behind his pain. "Of course." He pushed past me and to the door. His hand hovered on the doorknob as Sasori said, "Then walk away from everyone you care about and when this is done, I'd like to see you try to be accepted again."

Deidara turned his head away from us, hiding his face. "So you'll get to see it, yeah," he muttered before he yanked open the door and walked out, shutting it behind him.

I stood there numbly for a minute, trying to make sure I was getting all of this right. Everyone was silent, probably thinking that they were all screwed. Sasori was staring at the door with a pained expression. I couldn't figure it out; it seemed so out of place, so out of character for him. I didn't get it.

_What's he thinking?_

_**A/N: I decided not to try and hide Guy's name since everyone probably figured it out in the last story. Oh yeah…Betcha wondering why I decided to start this story off so, well, unexpectedly quick and maybe suspenseful? I figured that it was pointless to drag out something that had to be done quickly so I wouldn't bore you with shit you don't care about. That and I only have so many ideas to start a sequel with. This should make my life a lot easier as well. **_

_**And the fun begins...**_

_**Please review.**_


	4. 4: General

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**--  
**

**4: General**

_**A/N: I'm doing the author's note at the beginning so you'll be forewarned and you won't harass me with "this chapter was so short" and "make your chapters longer" reviews. I'm considering this a **_**filler chapter**_** because I need to put some things in that I couldn't do in Tobi's chapter but I don't have enough to make what everyone will consider a REAL chapter. So bear with me here. It's supposed to be short and I'm doing better with extending my chapters in this story than the last story I wrote. So please, no harassing reviews about how this chapter could be longer, okay? Thanks. When you're done with the filler, please review.**_

_**--  
**_

Deidara felt horrible. He'd made the choice earlier, but he hadn't taken into consideration that his best friend and boyfriend would tell him that they didn't want anything to do with him if he was going to leave. It seemed so cruel and he had thought he'd had their trust so they wouldn't do that to him when he left. But life was never that simple. He walked down the street sulkily. He should have thought about every possible scenario before he'd decided this. He already missed Sasori; a part of him knew that if he went through with this, there was the possibility that he'd never get the chance to hold him again.

Deidara stopped a few paces from the corner and looked back sadly. He really never did have very many options. He sighed regretfully and turned back around. He'd made up his mind – if that meant losing everyone he cared about to save them, then that's what he was going to do. That's just the kind of guy he was. He turned the corner and stopped again.

"Finally," Asuma muttered, not bothering to pull the cigarette out of his mouth. "I was starting to think you'd refused."

"Likely story," Deidara retorted, scuffing his shoe on the sidewalk and avoiding the other teen's gaze. "You have no idea what I went through to drop them, yeah."

Asuma scoffed. "Right. You were still just debating whether or not you'd come." He hesitated and then lowered his voice. "Did you come up with anything?"

"No," Deidara murmured, lifting his head and meeting the other's eyes. "Why was Anni snooping around here this morning, yeah?"

"Huh? Oh, she must've been assigned this area. How'd you figure it out?" Asuma questioned, glancing around curiously. "I haven't seen here since I got here…"

"That's because she's locked up in Pein's coat closet, yeah," Deidara told him with a chuckle. "She'll be lucky if she gets out. I already broke her arm, yeah. And they'll need someone to take their frustration out on…Where's Kurinai?"

Asuma smiled smugly. "She wouldn't come. She thinks it's a bad idea."

"She's optimistic," Deidara muttered softly.

"Let's get on with it, then. Shall we?" Asuma declared and gestured behind him. Deidara took a deep breath, steadied his nerves and followed him down the street. It was so perfect right then – if only he'd had a knife.

--

Sasori went back to Deidara's house after that to see what was up with the party. He was a little sad to see Ino, Deidara's look-alike, having so much fun with all her friends. It looked like spin-the-bottle had ended awhile ago when someone hadn't liked who they were supposed to kiss because the bottle was in pieces at the base of a wall.

"Where's Deidara?" Ino called, pushing past a few people to get to him.

"I have no idea," Sasori told her gloomily. "He took off about ten minutes into the meeting."

She was quiet for a minute, not really looking concerned yet. "When's he coming back? Mom's gunna be pissed."

"I don't think he'll come back for a few weeks," Sasori replied, wishing Deidara hadn't left this up to him. "He left the gang saying he wanted to protect the people he loved from getting hurt – including his family. I have no idea where he's going."

It finally seemed to sink in and Ino seemed horrified. "He just left?" Sasori nodded solemnly. "This sucks! I thought he was _actually_ going to be here for this birthday – since he's missed two birthdays already – but no. And he was never planning on it either!" She burst into tears as Shikamaru came up.

"What's up?" he asked, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder.

"Deidara took off," Ino told him, wiping her eyes with her wrist. "He's gunna miss the rest of my party and then my real birthday. This is stupid. If he hadn't gotten involved with gangs, this wouldn't happen."

"Hey, Ino…" Sasori ventured, wondering if he was asking for too much with this. "This last week, since Tuesday, was Deidara acting different?"

Ino looked up at him almost angrily and desperately. "Yeah. He'd get up like he was going to go to school but Mom kept getting calls saying he was sluffing classes. Wednesday, he kept calling me and asking me to look stuff up for him on the computer and then I wouldn't hear from him until midnight when he'd come home. Mom kept yelling at him then, that's how I knew he was home." She paused, seeming thoughtful. "You know, it reminds me of all that time he was in The Guardian. He'd sluff and come home at midnight and Mom would yell at him – over and over."

Sasori gasped; his head spinning. "What kind of things would he ask for?"

"He'd ask me to look up names and addresses and titles that sounded like they were headlines for newspapers," Ino told him. "There was some pretty random shit in there. He was home for about an hour on Thursday, working on his laptop. He wouldn't let me see what he was doing though. Before we left for school on Friday, he was on his cell phone. He seemed so busy…"

Sasori shook his head, trying to clear it enough that he could get some common sense back. "I think your party's over, right?" Ino nodded, glancing past him at some cars that were pulling up. "Okay, get Gaara, Temari and Kankuro to help you clean up; send them home when you're done. I'm gunna leave some sort of note for your mom and my cell number so you have it." Ino skipped off with Shikamaru on her tail and Sasori set to work. He slipped upstairs and into Deidara's room. He went to his dresser and, in the top drawer, pulled out his laptop. He put it in his backpack with the power cord, shut the drawer and hurried back downstairs. He went to the kitchen and pulled out a paper and a pen.

He was writing the note when Ino came in. "Everyone's starting to leave. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro are gunna stay and hang out like you said for them to."

"Alright, thanks," Sasori mumbled, signing the note and handing Ino both that and his number. "If anything – _anything_ – happens, whether you think it's worth a phone call or not, call me. Got it?" Ino nodded, looking a little scared by his harsh tone. "Good. I don't want to get in trouble if something happens…It's basically so you're mom knows that I didn't leave you without a way to reach me. I'm sorry you're birthday isn't what you wanted." He pulled a packaged out of his bag and handed it to her. "Happy birthday, Ino."

Ino grinned, despite it all, and opened it up. Her grin widened some as she flipped through the clean paper of her new journal. "I got it at a special place and picked it especially for you – so it should feel alright. And you can put whatever the hell you want in there," Sasori explained, feeling really bad for her. "And I know where Deidara hid his present for you, if you want it."

She looked up at him, awed. "I do…" She followed him to the coat closet where he pulled a shoe-box sized package off the top shelf and handed it to her. On the top, a small note was there. She pulled it off and read it: _It's for every birthday I missed and will ever miss. Love you and happy birthday, Ino. –Deidara. _She tucked the note into her pocket and pulled the paper off the box. It really was a shoe-box. She giggled as she pulled the lid off the top. Ino's snickering stopped when she saw what was inside, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. A jewelry box lay inside, ribbon tied neatly around it. She pulled it out and tugged the ribbon off. It fluttered to the ground as she opened the jewelry box. A simple and soft melody started playing. The tears finally slipped down her cheeks as she gently pulled a silver necklace out of the jewelry box; the gem dangling from it was a simple fairy – its arm outstretched to the sky, the other hand over its heart; one leg was tucked behind the other and its hair flowed down to its waist.

Ino gasped, "It's beautiful – all of it…" She gently placed the still chiming jewelry box on the ground and put the necklace around her neck.

_I never thought he cared this much about me…_


	5. 5: Zetsu

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**--  
**

**5: Zetsu**

The next few days were hectic and I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was crash; sleep for days, if I could. But I had school, Leader, Sasori and Tobi to deal with. School wasn't ending fast enough. I still had this week and two more before it ended. Leader was in panic – afraid of what Deidara was going to do now that he wasn't "bound by the commitment of being in a gang". Sasori was really upset and Tobi was even more upset. And both of them wanted my support. I'm starting to wonder why I put myself through this stuff. If I wasn't over at Tobi's house, I was with Sasori and if I wasn't with him, I was with the rest of the gang and when I wasn't with them, I was with both Sasori and Tobi who battled for my attention constantly. It wasn't fair.

--

"I can't believe he just took off and abandoned me again," Sasori whined, pacing back and forth in front of me. "I thought he was over this – he did it once, why do it again?" Tobi watched Sasori quietly. It seemed like the first time that he'd been quiet all week. It was almost eerie…

"Sasori-san…" Tobi muttered, stopping Sasori's dizzying pacing. "Do you really think that Deidara was _trying_ to hurt you or Tobi? Every time he's done something stupid, it always turns out that he was helping. And he comes back like a little puppy dog too."

I stared at him in shock. For once, Tobi had said something smart. And it was totally surprising since all he'd been doing this week was whining about how Deidara had abandoned us. "You guys, I don't even get why you care that much about the traitor. Sasori, this is the second time he's left you. And I know what he'll do when he comes back. I don't want to watch you do that again. Can't you start dating someone else – please?"

Sasori glared at Tobi and then me in turn. "Tobi…I don't get you. And Zetsu, what do you know?"

"I know that this is stupid – waiting for your black knight to come back after he's just broken your heart for the second time. Psh…" I trailed off, looking away in disgust. "You're so naive, Sasori. I don't want to see you do this to yourself again."

Sasori opened his mouth to protest but Tobi cut in before he could. "Did you find anything on Deidara's laptop? Tobi knows you have it still…"

"Oh yeah…" Sasori muttered, going to his backpack and pulling the laptop out. He went to the table I was sitting at with Tobi trailing behind him. "I couldn't figure it out. It all seemed so random – and I started to feel guilty for looking through stuff that wasn't mine to begin with. I bookmarked a lot of the pages and moved some of the emails to his inbox. I was hoping you'd be able to figure it out, Tobi." He opened the laptop and clicked on the internet browser. When it finished loading, he went into Deidara's email – typing in the username and password.

"How did you figure out Deidara's password?" Tobi asked suspiciously as he watched the screen load.

"It was easy. It's _bomb_," Sasori replied with a grin. He clicked on inbox; while that was loading, he clicked on bookmarks and opened a few pages. He stepped aside when it was all up. I walked around the table and behind Tobi while the masked teen clicked on an email.

"Huh…What's he doing with emails from him?" Tobi muttered to himself as he read through a few emails. He clicked on a link that had been put into the email and it opened a page that was already up. He read through it quickly and inhaled sharply.

Sasori looked at him in alarm. "What? Did you figure something out?" he asked quickly, slurring a few words in his rush to get it all out.

"Tobi's not sure. Oh, and Tobi just wants to let you know that this is ridiculously easy to read," the masked teen looked at the other, tilting his head like he did when he was smiling or grinning. "You just read every other word instead of all of it. They put random words between each to confuse the reader and didn't put any spaces in so if you tried to read quickly, it'd hurt your eyes and you'd get frustrated." He turned back to the computer while Sasori stood there fuming. He clicked on another page and started reading again. When he'd gone through all of the links and read all of the opened pages, he went back to a few emails and started reading them over again. Suddenly he cried, "It's pointless! They totally disguised what they're doing so Tobi doesn't know! They're lying, that much is for certain. But other than that, Tobi can't figure out what they're _actually_ doing!"

"Well…Who's he with?" I asked tentatively, touching Tobi's shoulder in concern. "And what did they say they're doing? I mean, to cover up what they're really doing…"

Tobi paused in hesitation. "He's with…Asuma. They say that they're…er…listening to music and camping." His voice wavered, as if he wasn't sure about the last part. "And they're going to eat pasta while wrestling with a grizzly bear…See? Lies…"

I stared at Tobi for a minute, a little confused and also wanting to laugh. It was ridiculous. "Who's Asuma?" I finally asked

"Uh…Tobi thinks he's second in command now…" He sounded distracted as he stared at an email. "He's with Kurenai – the girl who attacked Deidara way back when? He always has a cigarette in his mouth too; he did in the gang war." He paused to chuckle. "Deidara and Asuma used to be acquaintances. Tobi can hardly call them friends because the only thing they ever did was talk to each other in classes – when they went to school, that is. And when they had to work together when everyone had to meet. Deidara didn't really like him though, so that's kind of what's confusing Tobi."

"Then it makes perfect sense," Sasori said bitterly. Tobi and I looked at him in surprise. "I mean, wouldn't it be just perfect if you went to work with the one person no one thought you'd work with? If everyone thought you hated the guy, then wouldn't it be the ideal rouse to go work with him?"

Tobi hesitated again, looking at the email and then at Sasori again. "What do you mean 'working with'?"

Sasori stared at him like he was stupid – which kind of irked me. "I mean…well the obvious!" he cried in frustration.

"To go that far…I don't think even Deidara would do something so dangerous…" I told him cautiously. "I could be wrong. But do you really think Deidara would do something so…I don't know…desperate?"

Sasori looked down guiltily. "I really hope not…"

Tobi started closing out websites and shut down the computer. He closed the laptop and handed it back to Sasori. "Don't put it back – Deidara might try to come back and get it. The battery's about to die, so if you're going to use it, you need to plug it in." Sasori nodded miserably as he shoved the laptop into his backpack. "Thanks, Sasori."

Sasori snapped a weak smile onto his face as he looked at Tobi. "No problem. Thanks for figure some of this stuff out for me…" He slung his bag onto his shoulder and left.

I watched my friend leave. He was miserable and I despised Deidara for that. All that traitor ever did was hurt my best friend and I hated it. I had watched Sasori get hurt once before, and I had to go though it earlier, but I wasn't about to let it happen _ever again._

"Tobi has to go, Zetsu-kun," Tobi muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Tobi'll call you later, okay?" I nodded and kissed him good-bye. As I watched him leave, I started to realize why Sasori kept letting Deidara come back. He was like a drug. When faced with the temptation, why shouldn't he be able to partake? I knew where he was coming from too.

_After all, Tobi is my drug._

--

_**A/N: For lack of other ideas, this ends chapter 5. So lame, if you ask me. But the last line totally threw me off because it sounded like the end of the chapter. God...  
**_

_**Please review.**_


	6. 6: Sasori

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or characters thereof. The characters and show belong to Masashi Kishimoto. **

--

**6: Sasori**

I saw Deidara yesterday. And I cried. He wasn't the same. He was more serious; there wasn't any light in his eye like before. I hated the look in his eye too. How he looked down at me with distain. It had been _his_ choice to walk away from _me_! I should've been the one to stare at him with hatred while he cried. I must've looked so weak.

--

_I climbed up the hill, sorrow grasping me harshly. Yesterday had been such a reality check. Deidara had known what he was going to do before we'd even given him the choice. I was heartbroken. I sighed as I reached the top of the hill; there was a pale shimmer in the distance where the sun was slowly making its appearance. I sauntered over to the edge of the hill and stared out over the city. A breeze nudged me, giving me a rare taste of fresh air. I closed my eyes as the calm of the early morning overtook me. _

_"Sasori no Danna?" an eerily familiar voice whispered from behind me, making my eyes snap open. It couldn't be. I spun to see Deidara standing a few feet behind me, looking rather crushed. "What are you doing here, yeah?" His tone cut through me like a knife. And how painful that felt._

_I stared at the ground with disgust. How could I have thought he'd be glad to see me? "I was trying to relax, Brat," I told him coldly, lacing in as much ice as I could manage. _

_There was a pause and I resisted the urge to look up. "It's been awhile since you've called me that, yeah," Deidara muttered in a faraway voice. I finally glanced up at him; his eye was distant. "It's kind of pathetic that you can't think of a better name to call me."_

_"Just like you can't drop the 'Danna' from the back of my name," I growled defensively. But behind my barrier, I was falling apart. This wasn't the Deidara I'd fallen in love with. He was so secluded now. "What're __you__ doing here?" _

_Deidara smiled in amusement, his features suddenly darker. "Well I didn't come here for you, so don't get your hopes up, yeah," he snapped viciously. "I came to get a good view of the city. Though I won't tell you why, yeah."_

_It was worse than before. The horrible feelings that ripped at me as he said all this reminded me of our terrible break-up. But this was worse. He was far more wicked now. "I don't want to know anyway," I told him firmly, ebbing away the curiosity with the pain from past memories. "You think I still care about you?" _

_A hand slowly – hesitantly – pressed against my left cheek. His hand was cold and gentle. Soothing. I hadn't even realized that he'd walked closer to me. "Don't lie," Deidara whispered, his breath caressing my ear; his voice was softer now, etched with pain that danced behind his words. "You know I can see right through it, yeah. It's in your eyes…"_

_I refused to look at him, knowing that if I did, I'd lose it. I grabbed his hand and shoved it away from me with as much force as I could muster up. "You're the liar, you fucking traitor!" I screamed at him, avoiding his cerulean eye. "After Kurenai came, all you did was lie to me – to all of us! And you're calling me the liar?!"_

_"I never lied to you, yeah!" Deidara protested, his voice filled with confusion and shock. "I told you truth, just not all of it. There were some things that I didn't want you to know yet, yeah. Sasori…" We both paused at the lack of my pet name. "Trust me, please. I'm not doing this to hurt you, I promise, yeah. I have a real reason –"_

_"For betraying us?" I asked him brokenly, cutting him off abruptly. Tears stung my eyes. "It'd like to hear it. Because you sent Zetsu, Tobi and I off on a wild chase with all the pointless shit you left us."_

_Surprise dusted his features. "I thought that Tobi would've…" He cut himself off, his eye tight with anger and guilt. "I don't want to tell you yet, yeah." He suddenly calmed himself down, his anger vanishing. His face softened. He looked familiar again. But he still wasn't the same. "When will I get another chance to see you? I wonder if next time, you'll be angrier, yeah…?" He was talking to himself. The expression he bore made him seem so serene. _

_My breath caught as he took a hesitant step towards me. I let loose the pain, desperately hoping he'd see it. "Deidara…You brat…don't talk to yourself like that; you'll start to sound like Zetsu."_

_But he didn't want to joke around. He was perfectly serious. He took another cautious step towards me and reached his hand out. I didn't stop him. He brushed his fingers along my cheekbone, leaving a tingling sensation, and whispered, "Promise me one thing, yeah." He waited and I nodded reluctantly. "Promise me that no matter what, you'll never forget that I love you."_

_"You say it like this is a good-bye…Like I'll never see you again." His face remained solemn as he leaned in and carefully touched his lips to mine. My eyes widened. No…I yanked away, letting my fear show. He looked surprised. "No…I will see you again…right?" I asked him desperately. Why was I always the one to beg? Why did I have to feel so broken when he was gone?_

_"That's the problem, yeah," Deidara sighed miserably. "I don't know." He stared at me intensely for a minute before he whimpered, "I'm scared. I don't want to lose you again, yeah. I'm trying so hard to protect you…but I'm putting so much distance between us. And how do I know that you won't be mad at me when this is all over, yeah? That's why I want you to remember that I love you. Please, promise me that you'll never forget – no matter what, yeah!" He really did look scared._

_My brain moved faster than my body. I felt my lips tremble after the thought passed. I took a shaky breath and tried again. "I promise…" And I rushed over to him, wrapping my arms securely around him. "But I don't want you to go. Don't do this to me again!"_

_Deidara's body shook under me. "I don't want it this way, yeah. You can change this…Tell me we'll be okay when I get back, yeah…" His arms snaked around me, holding me closer. I didn't protest. "Please…tell me that…"_

_"I can't…" I sobbed into his chest. "You have to choose. I can't be with you if you intend to betray our friends." Maybe this was it. Maybe he'd tell me that he was wrong and he'd come back. _

_He tensed. Maybe I was just full of it. I felt this coming to a close and I hated the sinking feeling I had. "It's too late, yeah. Besides, Pein already told me that if I left, I couldn't come back. Technically, I already left."_

_Despite my earlier prediction, I gasped and unlocked my arms from his waist. I pushed him away from me, betrayal burning in my veins. "So that's it? You're leaving me again?" I stared into his dull blue eye, which showed nothing but regret. "No!" I howled angrily, tears staining my cheeks. "You asshole! I can't believe you!" I turned from him, sobs shaking my body. It was humiliating, to get lowered to looking like the beggar again. "I can't believe that I ever trusted you," I whispered dejectedly. I took a step away from him and he grabbed my arm in desperation. He tried to tell me something but I ignored him and yanked my arm away. I tried to disregard the agonized cry from behind me, "Remember, you promised me, yeah!" But it followed me home and seeped into my head and clung to me like a chain. It was painful._

--

I hadn't been able to go to school yesterday because of that. My mom was already at work, so all I'd had to do was get Gaara off to school and he'd been relatively cooperative. But I didn't get out of it so easily today. I felt so pathetic. Zetsu called and told me to get my ass to school. He had to call twice before I could even get out of bed. I was late to all of my classes and by lunch, he was beyond pissed.

"Damn it!" Zetsu cried, startling everyone at my table. 'What happened yesterday to make you so miserable today?!"

I stared at him blankly, debating whether or not to tell him. Nothing good could come out of lying but the same could be said for telling the truth. "I saw Deidara…" I muttered loud enough for him to hear. Everyone at my table tensed up.

"The traitor?" Hidan hissed dangerously. His hands closed into fists on the table and I looked away from him.

"Hey, guys," Konan called, leaning back her chair between Tobi and I. "Keep it down. People are starting to look at you funny. Wouldn't want anyone to think we had anything to do with Deidara's disappearance." She winked then tipped her chair back down to all four and started laughing loudly. She had a warm personality.

I growled lightly and stared at the wall next to me. "It sucked ass. He's a dick and that's all there is to it." It felt weird, to be talking about Deidara like that when I'd usually be all over defending him. But this was unforgivable and I knew it – deep down I did. Zetsu had been right. Deidara just wasn't worth it anymore. I didn't know what I'd ever seen in him.

Tobi stood abruptly. "Shut up," he said darkly. "He may have gone off and hurt you again, Sasori, but I know that he wouldn't do this without a reason. He's my best friend and he wouldn't leave like this unless it would benefit the people he cared about." I guess hearing Tobi talk in first person tipped everyone off to what was going on. The lunchroom had quieted, but there was still a low buzz. Leader, Konan, Kisame and Itachi were all silent – watching and listening to us. I couldn't imagine why Kisame and Itachi were even at lunch, even if they were on opposite ends of their table. "So stop telling us that he's a traitor. Because he's not…! I know he's not!" He turned away and ran out of the lunchroom, almost knocking down a few people who were going to throw their lunches away. Zetsu waited a beat or two before taking off after him. I just stared ahead of me.

What was going on? Tobi wasn't acting like Tobi anymore. Itachi and Kisame – who had been fighting days from now – were suddenly around again. I hadn't heard Hidan swear in a week (doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's always a miracle when he doesn't cuss in every sentence). Nothing seemed right. It felt like the world had tipped and everything was off balance. Even as I related everything that was going on to that, my vision seemed to make the world look like it was slowly tipping to one side. I felt secluded, alone.

I stood up shakily. No. I wasn't alone. I wasn't alone again. I stumbled away from my table, past the other table whose occupants stared at me with concern, and left the room. I couldn't be alone again. I still had my friends. My gang. My family. And Deidara was out there somewhere. He'd said he loved me. That counted. It meant he cared. I really wasn't alone. I sighed as I made it outside. The air cleared my head and I didn't feel lonely anymore. I felt alright again. The world still seemed off balance, but I wasn't lonely.

"Hey, this must be him!" a snobby voice cried and I spun around in surprise. Five teens were standing there, one of them a girl – the one who'd yelled; she was pointing at me and looking at the others with excited eyes. I didn't recognize them, which threw me off a little. I knew everyone in this school. So who were these people? The girl had bright red-pink hair that she let hang, bangs between her eyes, beanie on her head. Her eyes were a dull olive color, firm with deep hate. I didn't know her, but she was familiar. "This is him, right, Sakon? Ukon?"

There were two others, the ones she was talking to. I assumed that they were twins because they looked exactly the same. The only difference was that one was wearing a beaded necklace and they had their hair flipped to opposite sides. Their eyes were a deep blue, almost black. It was freaky how identical they looked. Another one of the teens had darker skin, deep violet – another almost black – hair with matching eyes. He wore a bandana around his head and had a smug smirk on his face that made me want to hit him. The last was a big guy with orange hair. He'd shaved all but three parts of it and it looked really funny. But he had an air about him that told everyone to back off. He had dangerous copper eyes that pierced through me like I wasn't even there. I shivered.

"Yeah, this is him," one of the twins confirmed. His voice was quiet and venomous.

"Who the hell are you guys?!" I snapped, dragging myself into a defensive position. I wasn't going anywhere if they were aiming to take me somewhere. "And what do you want?" I loved the standard greeting I was supposed to give.

The big guy grinned. I almost lost it. It was disturbing. My knees buckled but I managed to stay standing. I wasn't going to let him intimidate me. They didn't answer my question. Instead, the violet haired teen stepped from his position and ended up behind me, kicking me in the ribs. This time, when my knees buckled, I dropped to the ground. I was mostly shocked rather than hurt. I had only seen him move once. I was almost scared. Were the others this fast? If they were, I didn't stand a chance.

"I don't think we have to tell you anything. All you get to know is that we're taking you with us," the big guy hissed, his voice silky like solidified blood. I shivered again. I found my arm snaking around my torso, aiming to hug away the pain that seeped through my side. I dropped my arm instantly. I wasn't going to look weak. That wasn't what I was trained for. I pulled one of my legs from under me and spun, barely hitting the guy behind me before he moved again and took advantage of my balance. He was behind me instantaneously, kicking me in the back to knock me forward. This wasn't fair. He had speed as his advantage and I'd already been off guard. Why had I let my guard down?! I never did that!

I let out a sharp hiss as I landed, pain searing up my back. He was strong too. They laughed. "I thought he was supposed to be a challenge!" the girl mocked loudly. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her arrogant position. Her hands were on her hips and her nose in the air. How dare she mock me like that…! I pulled myself to my feet. Deidara's image filled every inch of my head and all I felt was anger to push me on. Even if these guys did have speed on their side, I was smarter. I couldn't be distracted.

"Sasori!" Konan called from behind me. I froze. I spun and ran toward her. Leader would never forgive me if she was hurt. I'd let them take me if they'd leave her alone. I knew she could probably take them, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that she fought using her defenses rather than her strength. These guys would find her weak point in no time with her style. Almost instantly after I'd taken off, there were pursuers. One of them shoved me, leaving me a little unbalanced. "Hey!" Konan snapped, seeing what was going on.

I looked at her desperately as the big guy appeared in front of me and knocked me backwards. I couldn't be distracted. But I was distracted now. There was no way I could win this.

_Damn you, Deidara…Must you always be on my mind?_

--

_**A/N: If you figured out whom the five people were, bravo. I think I changed their eye colors. I was using pictures from the internet and I couldn't really pick out any different colors other than black (except Jirobo's whose were definitely a coppery-olive color) and I thought it would be incredibly boring if they all had black eyes. That's why they all have weird eye colors. I do know that Sakon and Ukon's eye color isn't black but I couldn't remember what it really was so I had to make something up. **_

_**I did my research before putting them up, yes indubitably. It was very boring. I almost fell asleep. **_

_**Nah, there's no phobia for our poor Sasori. He just hates feeling lonely. Not scared of being alone, like in another story I read, just hates it because he doesn't like to be left out of things and stuff…He's not scared, okay?! Poor, 'Sori. Got captured by the idiot squad. **_

_**Sorry this was so short. I didn't mean for it to be, honest! I just ran out of ideas halfway through…well, not even half, really…**_

_**Please review. **_


	7. 7: Hidan

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or characters thereof. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**--  
**

**7: Hidan**

"This is crazy!" I all but screamed, shakily standing up. The story had been laid out in front of us and we only had a few pieces left to find before we had the whole thing. What was causing me to be so angry was that one of our members had abandoned us and another had been kidnapped. Tobi was being relatively quiet and Konan kept looking like she had something on her mind but she wasn't telling us anything. I had only been half aware of what was going on in our gang and suddenly it was all being calmly told to me. I couldn't help but be angry. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Leader calmly looked at Kakuzu and I. "Well, I thought that was pretty obvious. Since Sasori and Deidara are both gone, everyone will have to double their efforts to pick up their slack. This does, in fact, include you two. However, instead of working hard in subjects that the rest of us will be, you and Kakuzu will have to work with Tobi and Zetsu in figuring out what Deidara wants us to know."

I stared at him for a minute, puzzled. "Wait. I think I missed something there. What about Deidara leaving something and me having to work with ADHD Tobi?" I asked carefully, feeling even more detached from the gang than before. I'd been in the gang longest and here I was standing before one of my best friends and leader looking like an idiot. My anger was starting to rise in me like bile now. Pein and I had been friends before he'd started this gang – before he'd met Konan and I Kakuzu. Now it seemed that everyone else was more important and I was beginning to feel like I was a new member or something.

Pein slowly took in my expression before he answered. "Tobi, Zetsu and Sasori found some things out before Sasori was taken. There were a bunch of things on his laptop but Tobi says that it doesn't actually make any sense. We were hoping that you guys would be able to help uncover some of the things he left on his laptop, help figure out if there's anything in there that _does _make sense." I heard Kakuzu sigh beside me. "And just so you know, whatever you see and/or uncover is classified. It's only for you four to know and me. We need to make every gang we come in contact with think that we've got all our members. In the meantime, during my and Konan's free time, we'll me looking for a replacement for Deidara's available position."

Tobi shifted in his seat. I exhaled angrily and nodded to show that I understood everything that he'd told me. And then I left. I just turned and walked out of the room. I did feel kind of betrayed at this point but I knew he didn't mean anything against me. He was a leader of a gang now and he only had so much time for each person – even if I had been a top priority at one point. I stormed through the school up to the main level where I pushed through the doors and wandered into the parking lot. I spotted my car and hurried to it. Once in, I sat there for a moment, breathing evenly to calm myself down.

Shortly after I started my car, the passenger's side door swung open and Kakuzu stepped in. Neither of us said anything as he closed the door, strapped himself in nor as I sped out of the parking lot. He stared out of the windshield as I concentrated on driving. It was silences like this that I enjoyed when I was as angry as I was. My relationship with Kakuzu was an even one. Instead of prying at each other's consciousnesses, we let each other bask in our anger or pity until we went crying to the other for help. This worked well for both of us because we were both extremely stubborn and prying would probably cause us to get angrier. So he let me go where I wanted – and it probably had something to do with the fact that I was driving, but even so.

"I get it, you know," he finally told me, still staring out the window. "I'm not happy about it either. He's not treating us the way he's supposed to – he hasn't since Tobi and Deidara showed up. It's been bothering me for awhile." He adjusted himself so he could stare at me. "Whatever we find, we should keep from Zetsu and Tobi."

I glanced at him quickly before looking back out the windshield. "Isn't that considered betrayal? We're obliged to tell Leader everything we know and if we don't…" I sighed. "Why should we keep it from them?"

"I'm just sick of having to answer to Tobi," Kakuzu spat, looking at his knees. "He's new…well, newer but Leader's treating him like he's royalty and I think we should show him that he's not!" We stopped at a red light and I turned to stare at him curiously. He stared back and, after a few minutes, I smiled. "I'm not going to take orders from Tobi now – now that I don't have a reason to."

"I agree completely," I told him as the light turned green. I turned my attention to the road and sped off.

--

"Alright, so Sasori found all these and Tobi figured some of it out but none of it makes any sense," Zetsu explained, lightly pushing Deidara's laptop toward us. We examined the first page carefully and then Kakuzu pulled up another page. We stared at each page carefully, trying to see what Tobi had figured out – since they hadn't told us.

"Oh, you read every other word there and every other three words there," Kakuzu whispered, pointing to two different paragraphs. "You have to read every other two words there and every other four words there. Hang on…Let me pull up notepad and we'll see what we get, okay?" I nodded and watched as he pulled up the application. "Alright, first three words, please." I stared at the first sentence carefully before telling him the first three that he requested. It was a long process but we finally compiled a decent sized email.

"And…?" Tobi prompted, seeing that we were finished. We glanced at them, startled by their presences that we had forgotten about. "Does it make sense?"

Kakuzu glanced back at the document and shook his head. "Nope, not yet. They went even as far as to add more random words and phrases into the email so if someone could get this far, they'd probably give up. This one shouldn't take as long, though." We went back to examining the new email, pointing out words to delete and certain phrases that should be moved or _re_moved.

"How did you guys get so good at this?" Zetsu asked suspiciously. "I mean, Tobi was trained to do this stuff. What's your deal?" I turned to him, letting Kakuzu finish the last part.

"We've been doing this since we were 12, 13. I met Leader when I was ten and we did stuff like this for _fun_," I told them, amused by the somewhat surprised look I received from Zetsu. "This is what we're best at – next to killing people, of course." Kakuzu chuckled behind me.

"Okay, I finished," he announced, leaning casually against the counter. It had taken some time, but we'd finally decided that we would actually tell Tobi and Zetsu our findings so it would make them look stupid if we happened to stumble upon something they hadn't found yet. We wanted to show them how much more superior we were to them and make sure they knew that. "Basically, it says – on Deidara's end – that he'll meet this guy down the street from Leader's place at noon. On the other end, it says that he agrees and he's having trouble with Kurenei. After that, Deidara mentions something about how he doesn't actually want to seem like a traitor and the last thing the other guy says is, 'You won't be looked at like that when this is over.'"

"How stupid does Deidara really think we are?" I asked, livid. "So not only did he think to delete the emails, he thought that writing the emails like that would stop us from figuring it all out…?!" I took a deep breath and turned to the computer, desperate to occupy my mind before I became too angry.

There was a silence and then Tobi muttered, "So he really was planning all this for awhile. Which emails did you look at?"

"Um…The ones from May 18 to May 23…" I reported, checking the dates on the emails we'd just deciphered. "So they'd been planning it for about a full week before they actually pulled it off. In fact, Deidara actually sent the last email on the 23 – the day he was supposed to be hosting his little sister's party, right?" I glanced at Zetsu and Tobi and they nodded solemnly. "About twenty minutes later, he received that last reply. It was at about…four in the morning when they exchanged those last two emails. So it was basically a conformation that they were still going through with the whole thing."

"That damn traitor…" Kakuzu whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. "You know…Now I'm curious about the other emails from this month. Do you think that we could look at some of the others?" I yawned and nodded. "What time is it?"

Tobi pulled out his phone and checked. "Ten-fifteen," he mumbled. "Tobi's mom is gunna be _pissed…_if she's not drunk…" He seemed to consider that for a moment as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. "Actually, she probably is. Maybe Tobi should stay out until one to see what she does…"

"You want to risk that?" Zetsu asked skeptically. He just shrugged. "Well…Do you need us to do anything?"

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, feeling kind of guilty because I knew he was trying to help. "It might actually do us some good to write down dates and the subject lines so we know which ones to look at when we go see Leader tomorrow afternoon. Oh, and we need the power cord because the laptop's about to die." Tobi hurried over to the computer bag and pulled out the cord, plugging it into the wall and the computer. "So will you guys write down the dates and subjects?"

"Yeah," Zetsu agreed, going through his backpack for paper and a pen. When he had successfully retrieved the items, he put the paper down on the counter and got ready for me to tell him dates and such. I rattled them off and he scribbled them down. "Even the subjects are weird," he observed when we were done. "So they basically came up with this elaborate way to throw everyone off their trail by making their emails almost impossible to read?"

"Basically," Kakuzu replied, nodding in agreement. "Okay, let's look at the emails from the 11 to the 16, shall we?" I went into his inbox and started looking. "Hey, how did you manage to get into his email so easily?"

Tobi laughed. "Believe it or not, Deidara's a pretty lazy guy. He didn't like to have to type in his address and password every time he checked his email so he checked for the website to remember the password. Every time he went into his email, all he had to do was type in the first letter of his email and it would fill in the rest for him. It made Tobi's job a lot easier…"

Kakuzu and I turned to stare at him, dumbfounded. "Are you serious?" I inquired in disbelief. "He's really that stupid?" Tobi stared at me for a moment and then reluctantly nodded. "Wow…And here I thought when he said he knew what he was doing, he really did." I chuckled and turned back to the computer. "There are only three emails within those dates. Two were sent; one received," I reported. "And they were in the same day."

Kakuzu walked over and leaned over my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Open the first one sent." I did as I was told and opened the first one that had been sent by Deidara. "Hmm…It looks pretty normal. In fact, he was talking to Sasori."

"What did he have to say?" Zetsu asked quietly, looking up from examining the paper in front of him.

"Like I said, it's a pretty normal email. All he's talking about is what he wants to do during summer vacation. The only thing abnormal is he says that he hopes nothing will happen before then that will ruin their plans," Kakuzu told him, glancing at Zetsu and Tobi. "So either he didn't really know what he was going to do or he did and he didn't want Sasori to know."

"I'm going to open the other two," I informed him. "Maybe there's something different in the last one." I opened the one received by Sasori. He was basically clueless according to the email. I clicked to the next one – the last one that had been sent – and read through it quickly, startled to find that it looked like the others. My head spun as I tried to read through it too fast. "Kakuzu, will you check to see who this was to? I've got a headache…"

Kakuzu glanced at me worriedly before checking the to and from tags. "It's to that Asuma guy. Hidan, are you all right?" His arms tightened around my waist and I buried my head deeper into my hand.

"Sort of…I tried to read the email too fast and it hurt my head. I wasn't expecting it, that's why I tried to read so fast…" I said, slowly standing up straight again as my head stopped throbbing. "I don't think I'm going to attempt reading that again though."

"That's alright. I'll see what I can do." He let go of my waist, turned to the screen and pulled up notepad again. After a few practically silent moments that were only interrupted by Kakuzu tapping on the computer keys, he looked up, seeming troubled. "It's basically the same pattern that we found in the other emails. This one, however, says, "I'm ready to go through with this. Email me directions, location and anything else you can think of. But do remember that I'm neither leaving this gang nor entering yours. I'm excited to see how this goes…' It sounds like he was accepting something that Asuma guy said to him. Do you think we should look to see if we can find an invite from him?"

I shook my head. "Not tonight. It's pretty late and we still have to go to school tomorrow. In fact, my math teacher's been piling homework and assignments on us to prepare us for the SAT tests. My Language arts teacher told us last time that we're getting a pretest tomorrow to prepare us as well. If I don't get enough sleep tonight, I'm going to bomb it all." The others quietly agreed and I started closing stuff out. "Not that it'd be a big deal…I just need the options to be open for me, you know?"

"Yeah, we all do at this point," Zetsu mumbled, slipping the paper and pen back into his backpack. "It's a good thing we haven't been arrested yet, though." I laughed and agreed, shutting down the laptop and closing it. Tobi extended his hand to receive it as Kakuzu unplugged it from the wall and started winding it up. "I'm pretty sure it would do us no good in the future…"

"If any of us wanted to get any further in life, we would have quit gangs all together after our first gang war," Kakuzu murmured, picking up his backpack and swinging onto his shoulder. "This is what we chose to do and this is what we'll all continue to do for the rest of our lives. And we all know it." We all stared at each other in complete silence and then at inanimate objects. "It'd be smart to stay as far away from the cops as we can get if we want to keep this radical lifestyle, no?" After another silent moment, we all reluctantly agreed, knowing he was right. If we didn't want this life, we wouldn't have ever gotten into this business.

We all said our goodnights and goodbyes all too seriously. I kissed Kakuzu before he left and then I stood in the doorway, watching him and the other two walk home. So it was a game of pretend. We were going to keep our grades up and pass high school and then we were all going to run off in our gang wreaking havoc. I closed the door and smiled. Sounded like a hell of a good time to me.

--

After school, we all went to meet Pein – well, the remainder of us, anyway. Kisame and Itachi were arguing most of the way there and it was really starting to tick me off. "Okay, seriously, if you just…" Kisame started, getting cut off by Itachi.

"Don't start on that, Kisame," he snapped. "If you won't admit that you were wrong, don't start the argument that way." And they went off, yelling at each other and screaming, swearing even.

Finally, about a block away from Pein's house, I turned on them. "Why don't you both just shut the fuck up?!" I shouted, spinning and stopping everyone. "Really, do you think that this is the best time to be arguing about petty things? Members of our gang are quitting and others are disappearing, leaving the rest of us to prepare for the upcoming gang war. So your little arguments should be obsolete at this point. We don't have time for you guys to be fighting about whatever it is that you're fighting about." They stared at me, unblinking and unforgiving. "I've been in this business longer than either of you have. I know what's coming and we're all gunna have to give up some shit to get to where The Guardian is now. That means giving up your dumb fight to act as comrades now."

Everyone was silent now, all looking in different directions guiltily. "Alright…As comrades," Itachi agreed, turning to Kisame and extending his hand. The other nodded and the shook. I sighed, turning back around and walking quickly toward our destination, now determined to get there soon.

"You got them to shut up and get as close to an apology as I think we'll ever get," Kakuzu told me, amazed. "And with a damn wonderful speech, too. You should try debate. You'd probably scare everyone into seeing things your way and win every round." He chuckled, probably imagining what it would be like. I just snorted, not really into the idea of playing make-believe at the moment.

"Yeah, well, they needed to shut up," I mumbled, walking up to Pein's house and knocking on the door. Konan opened the door and gave us one of her bright smiles before ushering us in. We wandered in and all sat down, waiting to for Pein's permission to tell him what we had found. He nodded, looking to goddamn serious for his own good.

Tobi and Zetsu exchanged a look, probably feeling like morons. "To start, what we found didn't make sense because we didn't go through what we found fully. Everything that we could have found was still pretty well hidden." Tobi reached down and pulled the laptop out of its bag. Everyone else looked at him curiously as Zetsu handed over the paper he needed and he started opening things.

"Basically, Deidara knew what he was going to do about a week in advance," I told them, watching Tobi. "We think that he might have been considering it for even longer, but we didn't have the time to really look into that." Tobi finally pulled up the notepad with the emails and read the first date and subject off the paper before reading the first email. No one looked happy. It wasn't until he read the second one that they started looking surprised. By the last one, everyone was speechless and pretty much enraged. "Here, can I see it for a second?" Tobi nodded and passed the laptop over. Kakuzu and I started flipping through emails that we hadn't gotten to yet.

"The last two were sent and received at about four in the morning on the 23 of this month – the day Deidara was supposed to host his little sister's birthday party," Zetsu informed them. "So he was never planning on staying at the party for the full time and the fact that you called us to this meeting must have just been a casualty."

"Wrong," I said, looking over the laptop at everyone. "We found the invite. The whole thing was set up last month, leaving Deidara to think it over before the designated date that he was supposed to go meet Asuma. The girl you caught, Leader, was going to be sent out here – requested by Kurenai – and was 'most likely' going to get caught. With that being said, you would inevitably catch her and ask for the meeting which Deidara would have to attend." I paused, taking in everyone's concerned expressions. "At that point, Asuma would be waiting at the corner of your street for Deidara at 11:55, giving him five minutes to make his final decision and meet him there. The last thing that was left to be decided was if Deidara was going to go through with it and how he was going to get out of here."

"If you had chosen not to call the meeting, Deidara would have left the party for a minute to contact Asuma and tell him to meet him at the park at noon. He'd call either Tobi or Sasori – oddly enough, Sasori was already there – and have them take over 'temporarily' while he went to go get something from the store but he would really go meet Asuma," Kakuzu finished explaining, glancing back down at the computer. "Only part of this was actually in this email but there's enough from this and what really happened to piece together their entire plan. The key points are that Anni was planted at your place on purpose and they had a back-up plan if you didn't call the meeting."

Pein sighed and dropped his face into his hands. "So there was no way to avoid this?" he asked disbelievingly. "He had a plan for practically every scenario."

"Except if Ino's party had been a bust," Tobi pointed out, trying to make the fact more cheerful. "Also on the Brightside, no one has found any clues in Deidara's email or anything about Sasori's disappearance so they know that he had nothing to do with it…"

Pein glanced up at him but neither looked happy or angry. "It still doesn't help much."

"Um…Sir…" Kakuzu started hesitantly, consuming everyone's attention at once. "I'd like to point out that Deidara's plan was that he was never going to leave this gang nor join the other – which means that you forced him to quit and that wasn't really his intention. And, also, I'd like to draw the conclusion that perhaps what he and this Asuma guy are planning will neither benefit nor detriment both gangs. It's just a thought and I'm not quite sure about anything. It just seems pretty odd that Deidara would suddenly want to join another gang when he knew he had friends here. He didn't seem like he wanted to lose those friends either."

"An alternative?" Pein asked, sitting up straight again. Kakuzu nodded. "That seems like a lot of work, though. And way more planning than it seems they have done."

"That may seem true but there were other pages that we haven't been able to look through properly that could give us more clues," Kakuzu pointed out, passing the laptop to me. "An alternative is a lot of work and takes a lot of planning – that's true – but in a short amount of time, it can be simplified."

"What's an alternative?" Kisame inquired, glancing between Kakuzu and Pein. "I'm not so sure I know with the context you're using it in."

"An alternative is like an in between gang," Pein explained, looking at Itachi and Kisame. "It's used almost like an allied gang where members from two gangs join together for some express purpose that they usually don't tell their other gang members. An alternative is used usually when two members either don't agree with what their leaders are suggesting and want to them out or if the two gangs need some sort of back-up for something. The problem with it is that it takes a lot of time to plan it all out – how you're going to get it together, for what purpose, how you get the gangs you've been in contact with to let you go – and it also rises suspicions with several different people, starting with the gangs you've been in and working its way out to people like the police. It's dangerous for not only them but for the people they come in contact with."

I stared at the laptop screen, studying it carefully. Suddenly something popped up and I gasped, startled. Kakuzu turned his attention to me as I opened what had just popped up. _"Hi,"_ it said. I scanned the thing and realized, feeling stupid, that it was an instant message. The sender was someone I didn't know. I glanced at Kakuzu and he glanced at Leader, telling him what was going on. Everyone encouraged me to respond. _"Hey."_

_"What're you doing?"_ it replied, adding a worried smiley face. I looked down at the keyboard and typed, _"Checking my email. What about you?"_ I wasn't sure if it was the right approach – to act like I knew the person – but it was worth a shot. _"Lol. I'm actually at the park right now, Hidan."_ I almost threw the laptop on the ground, shocked.

"What the fuck?!" I turned to Kakuzu, my eyes wide. "How…?"

"I have no idea. Maybe it's a good time to ask who this is?" he responded, glancing at everyone who shook their heads, not exactly sure what was going on.

"Probably not a good idea," I whispered and then typed my reply. _"What're you doing there?" _I waited a moment before the response popped up. _"I'm waiting." _I swallowed and typed in, _"Waiting?" _Kakuzu filled everyone in and they all sat on the edges of their seats impatiently, Tobi and Zetsu staring at the screen intensely. _"I'm waiting for you. I need to meet you here soon, can you do that?" _I felt like my heart was going to explode. I don't think I'd ever felt this excited in my entire life. _"Yeah, probably." _A smiley face popped up before the next response. _"That's good. Oh, and I admire your ability to talk to me like you know me. It makes this more fun. Are you anxious to know who I am?"_

_"Yes." _I waited with baited breath, fingers hovering over the keys as I readied myself for their reply. _"That's always a good thing. I have one more thing to ask of you, Hidan. Will you please leave your friends where they are? The only other person I wouldn't mind you bringing is Kakuzu." _I glanced up as Kakuzu read it to the others.

"Whoever it is could be planning something though…" Konan started hesitantly. "We don't want to risk another member being taken…"

"Hey, we can fight you know," I snapped. Pein considered it for a moment and then nodded, surprising Itachi, Kisame and Zetsu. I turned back to the computer and typed my response. _"I'd like to bring Kakuzu." _There was a pause and then, _"Alright. I expect to see you soon…?" _I hurriedly typed my response. _"Yeah, we'll be there soon." _

A smiley face popped up before the response. _"Glad you can make it." _The next thing that popped up was saying that the person had logged off. I glanced up at everyone, horrified. "Well…" Itachi started. "It should make an interesting meeting, don't you think?"

"Whoever this is scares the shit out of me," I told him, shutting things down and turning the laptop to standby before slamming it shut and putting it back in its bag. I zipped it up and put it on my shoulder, standing up. "I'll call you when it's over or if anything bad happens." Kakuzu stood as well and the others nodded.

"We'll wait," Pein replied calmly, watching us walk out the door. My heart was racing and I was scared out of my mind but oh so excited. This was too much fun. I hadn't had this much fun and excitement in years and I was pumped. I glanced at Kakuzu and he took my hand, seeming to agree with my thoughts even though neither of us had said anything to the other. We walked silently to the park, waiting in anticipation for the revelation of the mysterious person who seemed to know me without letting on _how_ they knew me.

_I bet I already know who you are. So, like Itachi said, this should be an interesting meeting…_

_**A/N: -smiles in a satisfied way- Well, I decided that since Deidara and Sasori are both "missing", I can't very well do their part of the story in their point of view because it would ruin the surprises in the later chapters. So I needed two new people to take their places in the story for awhile. I decided that I haven't concentrated on Hidan and Kakuzu much in either stories (well, I haven't gotten much on Itachi and Kisame either…) and so they would make fine fillers. And besides, it's fun to write in their point of views. **_

_**I hope you still are enjoying this story and that I haven't disappointed you too much in this story. :) Please review.**_


	8. 8: Kakuzu

**8: Kakuzu**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. He and characters thereof belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**--**

Hidan and I arrived at the park in a matter of minutes as we were both excited and the park wasn't very far from Pein's place. We walked over to the playground section and glanced around. We saw someone over on the slide so we took the monkey bars. I was almost positive I knew who it was but I was waiting to see their face and make sure I was right. So Hidan and I sat on the monkey bars, swinging our legs patiently. The person finally turned around and smiled brightly at us. "Did I scare you, yeah?" he asked playfully.

"A little," Hidan admitted, avoiding Deidara's gaze as he laughed. "Why didn't you just say it was you?"

"It would have ruined the fun, yeah," he huffed, shaking his head. "In case you're wondering, I was using Asuma's laptop to IM you. So…What did you uncover, yeah?"

"If we had uncovered anything, do you really think we'd tell you?" I asked, turning my head to stare at him. He shrugged, smiling a little. "Well, I don't really feel like telling you anything, traitor."

Deidara stared back at me and finally nodded. "Alright, fine. But I need to know if you've found the site that has all the info about Orochimaru, yeah. Have you gotten there yet?" I shook my head, earning a punch in the arm from Hidan. I glared at him and he mouthed what I'd said moments ago. I blushed, realizing why he was mad. "Damn. That's really important, yeah. You really need to find that."

"Why?" I asked, turning and fixing my glare on him. He glared back.

"Surprises, remember?" he countered, smiling mischievously. "Just know that it's really important and you have to find it soon, yeah. I've been trying to contact Orochimaru for awhile now and he's refusing a meeting. I think that it would be more effective if you told Pein that it was important and have him set one up, yeah."

I glanced down, a little unnerved. "Zetsu said something about you wanting to meet this Orochimaru guy after you left… Why is it so important…? Never mind. We'll see. In the meantime, I think that you should know something." I looked over at him and he stared at me curiously. "Sasori disappeared. Oh wait, rather, he was kidnapped."

"What?" he cried, sitting up straighter and looking like he was almost going to fall off the top of the slide. "When? What happened, yeah?!"

"We're not sure as we were all inside when it happened. But Konan went out to see if he was alright and witnessed him getting beat down. She tried to help him out but they knocked her out and when she woke up, he was gone," Hidan explained, staring at Deidara seriously. "She told us what they looked like. Would you like to hear? Perhaps you know them…" Deidara nodded hesitantly and he started describing what they looked like.

Deidara was quiet for a minute, seemingly contemplating that. "I haven't ever seen them before, yeah. Oh… I feel horrid now." He buried his face in his hands but I felt no pity.

"Why, because you know it's your fault?" I asked him seriously. He looked at me blankly for a minute before suddenly becoming enraged. I stood carefully on the monkey bars as he stood and walked toward us.

"My fault? I'm trying to help you, yeah. So because I wasn't there to help defend Sasori – when I'm sure he was capable of taking care of himself – it's my fault that he was taken?" He swiftly grabbed one of the bars and swung himself up. "I'm afraid that I can't confirm that, yeah. I feel horrid because I wasn't there to help him, yes but I don't feel horrid because it was supposedly my fault. It wasn't my fault, yeah."

I heard Hidan get up behind me. "Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself as well," I told him, readying myself mentally in case he tried to attack.

"You do realize that if I knock you off these bars, I can basically kill you in seconds after that, yeah?" he inquired, tilting his head to stare at me, awed. "It sounds like you want to fight."

"I'm still pretty pissed at you," I admitted, smiling under my mask. He shrugged and tried to punch me. I leaned back and to the side a little, catching his hand before it could come in contact with Hidan's face. Hidan jumped off the bars and sprinted to the area around the slide that Deidara had been on moments ago. "You hate me and I don't know why. I haven't really done anything but help you. What would have happened if I hadn't told you about that kiss between Zetsu and Sasori a year ago? If I hadn't told you about Sasori's capture, would you continue to do what you're doing now instead of contemplating ways to find those guys who took him?"

Deidara paused, a bit caught off guard. "How do you know that I was planning on doing that, yeah?"

"You're predictable and it seems like something you'd do," I whispered, swinging my leg to the side and kicking his ribcage. His hand twisted out of mine and instead, he grabbed at my wrist as he started to lose his balance. I bent backward, hooking one of my feet under a bar and grabbing another with the same hand that Deidara was attached to. He fell forward onto me, practically knocking the breath out of me, before sliding over and dangling off the side. "It's a good thing this isn't very high, huh?"

He let go of my wrist and landed roughly on his feet. I grabbed the bar with my other hand and flipped backward, resting my feet on two bars behind it. A siren went off, sounding really close. We glanced over and saw a cop car that had been out of sight in front of a house by the park come out from its hiding place. It stopped abruptly and a cop jumped out of the car. "Shit," Deidara hissed as he ducked under the slide and grabbed a laptop bag. I jumped carefully off the monkey bars and grabbed the laptop bag that Hidan had been carrying and bolted toward the swings, Hidan hot on my trail along with the cop who now had a partner with him.

"What now?" Hidan asked me, sounding pretty concerned. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Deidara run away from the playground, headed out toward the fields that were used for soccer games during the summer._ Dumb-ass_, I thought with a slight smirk.

"Call Pein and tell him that we've got some issues and we'll be running late," I instructed. "While you do that, we're taking the long way home." He groaned and pulled out his cell, speed dialing Pein. One of the police officers was yelling at us but I just sped up, followed by Hidan who did the same. I saw someone's plastic fence and prepared to jump it. Hidan leaped in front of me and over the fence with an excited cry and I sighed at his childishness. I propped one hand on the fence and then heaved myself over it, landing harshly on the other side. There was a shooting pain through my ankle into my leg and I cringed but kept running. The cops were shouting louder now so they were definitely close behind us. And I was slowing down.

"What the fuck, Kakuzu!" Hidan screamed, turning halfway around to look at me. I cringed as the pain spread into my knee. It was throwing me off but if I was caught, I was going straight to juvie. With this in mind, I sped up and took Hidan's hand. He grabbed it tightly and I took the encouragement from him as we continued to run. "Are you okay? You never were good at jumping fences…"

"I'm fine," I huffed and stumbled a little. He jerked my arm and kept me on my feet. "I think I sprained my ankle though…We need to shake these guys." He waited patiently as I thought of a way to lose them. "Okay, you go down that street and lead him down into the alley. I'll come up the other way and knock him out while you take care of the one that follows me, alright?"

Hidan turned his head and stared at me intensely. "Are you going to be all right?" he asked, barely sounding out of breath. I nodded determinedly. "Then okay…I'll see what I can do…" He let go of my hand reluctantly and turned a corner around behind a house, jumping over their small garden. I veered to my right and leapt over a short wall that blocked my way into someone's yard. After successfully doing that, I ran around the house until I found the sidewalk again. My feet hitting the pavement sounded pretty loud but that probably had something to do with the adrenaline rush I had and the blood pumping in my veins inside my ears.

I heard the cop getting closer and forced myself to go faster. The muscles in my legs were growing weaker and my breathing was becoming more labored. I turned into some alleyway and then spun, facing the cop that stopped when he saw me standing there staring at him. When he decided that I wasn't going to do anything, he ran up to me. I turned to the side and lifted my right leg, slamming my foot into his stomach. He stumbled back a little, giving me enough time to throw my fist into his face before I turned around again and took off once more. I knew that the officer would be out of breath for a few minutes and I also knew that I should take advantage of that time.

I ran out into the street and almost collided with a woman and her child. I backpedaled and, while she stood there looking astonished, I ran around her and across the street. When I was successfully across, I turned and started running down the street. I had to get to the alley down there before I left Hidan to take out his cop by himself. After a bit of struggling to not fall over, I reached the alley and turned into just as Hidan did – just as I had planned. I smiled and waved at him. He waved back with a grin on his face. "What happened to the officer that was following you?"

"I put a dent in his face," I informed him and ran past him to the officer that was hot on his trail. I passed him as well but spun around and grabbed his arm, tucking it behind him. After a moment's hesitation, I lifted my foot and shoved it into his back harshly. He cried out so I let go and he toppled. I put one foot on his back and picked up his head by his hair. I pushed his face into the concrete – not enough to kill him but enough to knock him out and probably break his nose. I stepped off of him and walked up to Hidan, breathing heavily. "I need to work out more…"

We embraced gladly. "Aw, but you're hot the way you are," he told me happily. I laughed with him until I saw the cop behind him. I backed away from him and he got the hint. He spun to face the police officer and almost immediately the cop ran up to him. He tried to pull his gun – apparently he learned his lesson the first time with me – but Hidan grabbed his wrist and took the gun from him. "I've always wanted a police officer's gun…" he mused and pocketed it. The officer gaped at him so he made the first move. He used his free hand to punch the man in the nose and then, using the hand that was still wrapped around his wrist, he latched his other hand onto his arm and flipped him to the side. The man landed hard on the ground.

Hidan slammed his foot onto the cop's head, forcing it into the concrete. He moaned before he fell silent – unconscious with no blood shed. I pulled out my cell phone and called Pein to let him know that we were fine. He sounded irritated but didn't ask any questions. Instead, he demanded that we both go back to his place. When I told my boyfriend, he groaned. "Well, let's get out of here before back-up gets here," I decided for him. I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the alley. He allowed himself to be dragged as I walked down the street the opposite way we had come.

"You know, I wonder why Deidara was so scared when he saw the cops," he muttered as I increased our pace so we were jogging now. "It's like he knew he was in for it – bit time, you know?" I nodded, remembering how big of a hurry the blonde had been to get away from the park. "I bet he robbed a store or something. That totally seems like something he'd do because he's that stupid."

I glanced at him in amusement as we started running, only about a block away from Pein's house. "Yeah, probably; though I haven't seen him on the news yet…" Hidan took that into consideration before he went back into his major rant. I sighed and listened to him, pleased. I wondered what the others would think of the whole thing. It was all so…odd… I turned onto Pein's street and we eagerly started running faster. When we reached his house, I knocked on his door briefly before I opened it and hurried in.

"Thanks for knocking…I think," he muttered, looking confused for a moment. Hidan slammed the door and we walked to the couch, sitting down. I put the laptop bag on the ground next to my foot and took a few deep breaths. "So what happened?"

"Um…Deidara wants you to contact some jack-ass named Orochimaru because it's 'important' and then when we told him about Sasori's disappearance, he flipped shit and tried to attack Kakuzu," Hidan started explaining, earning a few shocked expressions at this new revelation. "Then some cops showed up and we all bailed. We ended up knocking them out, sadly…"

"At least you didn't kill them," Zetsu muttered sarcastically and my boyfriend growled at him. I sighed and he glanced at me instead.

"It's not something we should be proud of at this point, Hidan," I told him firmly. "You know it, too. It's getting really dangerous. One wrong move and we're all going to end up in juvie – jail, if lucks not on our side."

"Tobi knows that this is a very intense moment but he just thought of something…" I looked at him, not really that angry. "Sadly, Tobi remembered what you and Leader were talking about before you left – about how if a member starts an alternative, suspicion rises within the gangs and works its way out to people like…the police." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pein drop his face in his hand, looking exasperated. "But it's just a thought…Tobi doesn't want it to be true, but it just seems to add up, you know?"

It was completely silent for a few minutes as we thought about this. "He's right," Itachi murmured. "But does that mean that it's true?" I contemplated that briefly and then shook my head.

"No, it doesn't. We don't know what Deidara's been doing and we won't until he comes back and tells us. In the meantime, we can only assume. And in assuming, we're probably taking a risk but…" I glanced at Pein seriously and he returned the look as if he already knew what I was going to say. "We're probably going to have to lie low for awhile. That means we'll have to pause our search for Sasori, unfortunately."

"We can't do that. We don't know who has him – we don't know what they're doing," Kisame protested, practically jumping up. "And we need him back…"

"We don't really have a choice," Konan murmured, not really sounding happy about it either. "Kakuzu's right. I'm sure Sasori can hold his own until we can get back in action. If we raise too much suspicion, the police will come after us and then we won't be able to do anything. I'm almost completely positive that this will blow over but it's going to be awhile. While we wait, we plan."

No one was happy. And as much as I disliked Sasori – yes, disliked; I _hated _Deidara – I felt a bit sorry for him, if not even worried. He was a valued comrade and we needed him more now than ever with Deidara as a new found threat. "Sir…Maybe you should look into who this Orochimaru guy is…" I suggested hesitantly, not really sure if I liked the idea myself.

"I don't know…" he murmured, looking like he was considering it heavily. "If Deidara referred me then I'm not really sure it's such a good idea…But we also need help…" He was really stressed.

"Hey, Sir," Hidan started, glancing out the window as if he was still thinking about what he was going to say. "Maybe we should take this time to relax for, like, a day or two and then get back to the planning and stuff. I mean, everyone's been so worried about Sasori and pissed at Deidara…maybe we'd be able to think clearer?"

Konan looked calmly at Hidan and then at Pein. "I actually agree completely. We need some time to relax. Ha, I don't even remember the last time I had a nice break."

"This whole last year didn't count?" Zetsu muttered sarcastically and she sent him a glare. He just sighed and mumbled, "I don't even think I _can _relax, you know?"

"We should at least try so we can be ready for anything…" Pein decided firmly and everyone but he and Konan got up, knowing that this little discussion was over. Hidan and I walked back to my place, tired and I was feeling a bit grumpy. We didn't say anything, instead choosing to sulk like children. I'd never had to think about this kind of stuff before. Sure we'd killed people and sure we'd done the occasional graffiti and that concerned the law a bit but we'd never been in direct trouble with the law – as in, face to face with police officers. I suppose I should have thought that we would eventually get in trouble and the fact that it had never crossed my mind had me almost laughing.

"I'll be lucky if I'll be able to sleep tonight…" Hidan muttered as I opened the door to my house. "Relax for two days…"

"You're the one who suggested it," I reminded him with a shake of my head. Hidan was…obnoxious, loudmouthed, foulmouthed, short-tempered, and also suffered from selective memory. And while those were the things he was known for, he was also…caring, sweet, and generally nice to me. Not as many good qualities as bad but they make up for the things that I can't stand – usually. Now was a time when I really wished he didn't have the selective memory.

"Ha-ha, yeah, I did, huh?" he said nervously and then sighed. "I'm just so sick of all this 'I hope Sasori's okay' and 'Deidara's such a traitor' shit. It's getting so annoying and I just wanted a break from it, you know?"

"Yeah…I'm still pretty pissed that Deidara's the center of attention but I wish we knew where Sasori was…" I huffed, dropping onto the couch. "It's all so aggravating! I almost wish that…"

"That you'd never gotten into the gang stuff?" Hidan questioned, reading my mind. "You said it yourself the other night, though. If we hadn't wanted this lifestyle, we wouldn't have ever gotten into the business. Besides, it'd be boring in this gang without you!" He wrapped his arms around my neck and cuddled against me.

"Is that what I'm good for?" I teased and he tried to stutter out an excuse. "I'm kidding. I know that the gang would suffer immensely without us though – well, more you than me." He snorted.

"That's only half true. They probably would have been able to find two other people if we had decided to say no," he told me and we both sighed. "Well, no point in wishing or regretting. And how could we regret all this fun anyway? The only thing I lament is Deidara befriending Sasori and then joining. God, what a mistake then ended up being, huh?"

"No joke," I agreed, closing my eyes. "Everything was much less complicated before we met him. If only we hadn't! What did cause him to talk to us in the first place?" We were silent for a minute, trying to remember what started all this. "Well, I know that Sasori was being overly friendly but I don't remember why we started talking to him…"

"Wasn't it after you started keeping tabs on him, Sasori, Zetsu and Tobi?" Hidan asked, half joking.

"Okay, probably but it wasn't my fault that after he and Sasori got together, we started hanging out with them!" I cried in my defense and he playfully tackled me. We struggled for a moment until his knee hit my ankle and I shouted at the searing pain it caused. "Ah, my ankle. Fuck, I forgot about it…" Immediately worried, he got off of me, pulled up my pants leg and then yanked down my sock to reveal my swollen ankle.

"Fuck, I'm gunna have to teach you how to jump a fence, aren't I?" he mumbled, jumping off the couch and sprinting to get some ice. I just lay there for a minute, waiting, until my phone rang. I reached into my pocket and looked at the caller id. Shocked, I yelled for Hidan and answered. He hurried back in, puzzled.

_Oh God…Please tell me that whatever he has to say is good news…_

_--_

_**A/N: …Meh, I don't really feel like bitching and whining. Be glad that I finally got this chapter out… Please review?**_


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